In the Brazilian capital, more than 2,500 police officers and special forces conducted a large-scale operation against drug cartels, resulting in the deaths of at least 60 people, including two police officers. Shootouts lasted several hours, and drug traffickers used FPV drones, UNN writes with reference to Reuters.
Details
It is reported that "at least 60 people have died after more than 2,500 police and special forces stormed a favela area near Rio's international airport, which is considered the headquarters of one of Brazil's most powerful organized crime groups," the publication writes.
This raid, as stated, caused fierce shootouts in and around the Alemão and Penha favelas, home to approximately 300,000 people.
Drug traffickers from the "Red Command" gang opened fire and set fire to barricades and cars when they were attacked by civil and military police along with special forces around 4 a.m. The gang reportedly used drones for the first time to drop explosives on groups of law enforcement officers.
According to a Rio state official, who shared an assessment on condition of anonymity that was more than double the official figure of at least 22 deaths announced earlier that day, the casualties from these operations were much lower than the approximately 60 deaths on Tuesday.
Rio's far-right governor, Claudio Castro, declared a "state of war" in the city and called the current police operation the largest since a large-scale action in the region in 2010.
"This is no longer ordinary crime, this is narco-terrorism," Castro said in a video posted on social media, which showed armored personnel carriers at the start of the mission.
More than 80 people were reportedly arrested and more than 40 automatic rifles seized. These weapons are a sign of the powerful arsenal that Rio de Janeiro's drug traffickers have acquired since the late 1980s, when they began to flood the favelas.
Victor Santos, Rio's security secretary, told local television that the "Containment" operation was ordered to capture members of the Red Command gang, who control large parts of Rio and are increasingly present in other parts of Brazil, including the Amazon region.
René Silva, a community activist and journalist from Alemão who heads the local newspaper "Voz das Comunidades," said he was woken up by gunshots around 5 a.m. He expressed despair that the government insists on conducting deadly and, in his opinion, ineffective police raids in the favelas.
This does not solve the problem. The problem of crime in Rio needs to be fought elsewhere – not just in the favelas. We don't have marijuana or cocaine plantations here. We don't have arms factories here. This is not a fight against crime, it's a fight against poverty.
"What is happening in Alemão and Penha is not an operation, it is a state-sponsored massacre," Lucia Marina dos Santos, a state congresswoman from the left-wing Workers' Party (PT), wrote on Twitter.
Santos accused the authorities of turning Rio's favelas into "war zones" as part of their failed war on drugs.
With police operations and shootouts reportedly continuing on Tuesday afternoon, the death toll could rise.
Governor Claudio Castro said that police across the city have been put on high alert due to fears that drug lords could organize retaliatory attacks. On Tuesday afternoon, there were attempts by criminals to block key highways and roads in Rio.
Addition
The highest number of deaths in a single police operation occurred in May 2021, when 28 people died during a police raid on Jacarezinho, another large favela considered a stronghold of the Red Command.
Over the past 40 years, Rio's brick favelas have increasingly fallen under the control of armed criminal groups, including the Red Command, the Pure Third Command, and paramilitary gangs, which often include former or active security personnel. In recent months, the Red Command has launched a large-scale offensive, attempting to seize areas of western Rio currently controlled by militias.
US military strikes Venezuelan drug vessel: 11 dead03.09.25, 05:00 • [views_6380]