Their eyes met across a crowded prison yard and, although it had been 10 years since their parting, there was no doubt in the mind of Jaime Nilson Sampaio: he had at last found his long-lost brother.
"It's an incredible coincidence. They come from the other end of this enormous nation, they haven't seen each other since childhood and they end up here, in the same police station, both charged with petty theft," policeman Carlos Leba said Friday.Jaime, 19, and his brother Nilson, 20, were held in separate cells in the same Rio police station for six months before a new exercise rotation put them together in the yard Thursday.
They had not seen each other since Nilson ran away from home in the impoverished northeastern state of Piaui, 1,800 miles from Rio, 10 years ago. Both migrated to Rio in search of work.