🔗 Share this article

The photographer

A reporter who observed the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how residents returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. They included those of police officers.

A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be blade trauma.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness stated that he initially learned concerning the action in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to a local medical facility, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that law enforcement prevented journalists from entering the affected area, where the police action were occurring.

"Police officers formed a line and said: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in the community, stated he managed to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He explained that evening, local residents started looking the mountainous area which divides Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Residents from the Penha area proceeded to place the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence show the response of the people there.

"The harsh reality of the situation impacted me deeply: the sorrow of loved ones, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, crying, outraged parents," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The official of the state announced that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 officers was intended to preventing a gang called the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities stated that sixty individuals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations shows that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the overall count of people killed at 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Per reporter an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city over many years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, valuable minerals, energy resources, beverages and tobacco.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, described Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

But the number of people killed in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance the following day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He continued that the events intensified because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the retaliation they executed and the overwhelming response from the gang members."

The state leader also said that the casualties shown by residents in the area had been "tampered with".

Through a message on online platforms, he claimed that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A police official from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and arms" were taken away from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse