🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who witnessed the aftermath of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has recounted how community members brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness reported. They included law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he said. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were killed during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted about the operation Tuesday morning by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were being brought.

The photographer stated that the police prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who grew up in the area, reported he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he remained through the night.

He explained that evening, area inhabitants started looking the elevated terrain which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Community members of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in an open area - the photographer's images display the emotions of the people there.

"The violence of the situation impacted me a lot: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, women carrying children, sobbing, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The governor of the state stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at halting a criminal group called Red Command from growing their influence.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that "60 suspects along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals have been killed.

The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has put the total number of casualties as 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group which in recent years has managed to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline dating back more than 50 years.

Based on reporter an expert, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "commercial associates".

The gang focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles firearms, precious metals, petroleum products, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of Rio state, the political leader, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as "heroes".

But the number of people killed in the operation has faced scrutiny from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "appalled".

In a media appearance the following day, Governor Castro defended the police force.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He continued that the events worsened as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they executed and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the casualties displayed by locals in the area had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on social media, he said that some of them had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, vests, and arms" had been removed from the casualties and showed footage appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse