Cisco employees in Brazil got a surprise when over 600 federal police and tax officers, armed with over 90 different subpoenas, stormed Cisco System’s Brazilian operations earlier this week. Their target was any information regarding the company’s alleged tax evasion, dodging an estimated $826 million. The raid was the dramatic climax of a two-year investigation looking into $500 million worth of equipment that Cisco allegedly imported into the country through Panama, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands in order to avoid Brazil’s import fees.

Forty people were arrested, including Pedro Ripper, president of Cisco Brazil, and Carlos Carnevali, vice president of Cisco Latin America. Additionally, Brazilian authorities have contacted U.S. law enforcement agencies requesting arrest warrants for five more suspects in the United States.

Cisco released an official statement claiming full cooperation with the Brazilian authorities. They also note in the release that Cisco doesn’t conduct direct sales in the country, the company goes through various third parties instead.

On a related topic, Brazil has notoriously high taxes across the board. Although their ICMS tax (goods and services tax) is a state tax paid by businesses, it’s generally passed along to consumers as a sort of hidden sales tax. For example, one group estimates Brazilians pay 36 percent extra for pencils as a result of taxes, and 40 percent extra for toilet paper. This has led to a proclivity towards tax avoidance for some Brazilians, businesses included.