At least 64 folks have died in an enormous police raid aimed at organized crime in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, safety officers advised NCS Brasil. Among the dead are 4 Brazilian police officers, officers added.
Video obtained by NCS Brasil present a number of fires in the world of the raid, with audible gunfire in the background.
Authorities launched an operation aiming to “combat the territorial expansion” of the Comando Vermelho legal group, Rio de Janeiro’s authorities added in a prolonged thread on X. The operation was in the works for over a yr, the federal government mentioned, and concerned greater than 2,500 navy and civilian police personnel.
Comando Vermelho (CV) is Brazil’s oldest lively legal group, based on the think tank InSight Crime. Its title, Portuguese for “Red Command,” is a reference to its origins as a leftist prisoners’ group shaped in the course of the navy dictatorship that dominated over Brazil till 1985.
Since then, CV has turn into an enormous, transnational legal group, concerned in drug trafficking and extortion. InSight Crime experiences that in latest years, it has struggled with escalating violence from the state and different legal militias.
At least 81 folks had been arrested Tuesday, based on a social media put up by Rio de Janeiro’s Police Department.
Rio de Janeiro State Governor Cláudio Castro advised reporters the demise toll could rise because the operation is ongoing. Authorities additionally claimed on social media that at least 42 rifles had been seized in the course of the operation.
During the raid, gang members allegedly focused police with a drone, authorities mentioned.
“In retaliation, criminals used drones to attack police officers in the Penha Complex,” Rio de Janeiro’s state authorities mentioned in a put up on X, sharing a video of what seems to indicate a drone firing a projectile from the sky.
“Despite the attacks, security forces remain steadfast in the fight against crime,” the state authorities added.
“This is the magnitude of the challenge we face,” Castro mentioned in a put up, earlier than utilizing a time period fashionable amongst tough-on-crime leaders in the United States and Latin America. “It is no longer common crime, it is narco-terrorism.”
Castro additionally requested residents of the affected neighborhoods to stay indoors whereas the operation is underway.
This is a creating story and will probably be up to date.