🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

A photographer who observed the results of a massive security raid in the Brazilian city has reported how local people brought back mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One individual was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what he described as knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by residents living in Alemão, who reached out telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness traveled to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from entering the affected area, where the security measures were occurring.

"Police officers formed a line and announced: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he was able to enter past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He described that evening, local residents began to search the hillside that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing following the security action.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - the photographer's images reveal the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all shook me a lot: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

The eyewitness

The governor of the state announced that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing a gang referred to as Red Command from growing their influence.

Originally, the Rio state government claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" had been killed during the action.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the overall count of people killed at 132.

According to researchers, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

According to Brazilian journalist an expert, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, Red Command "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The organization concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles firearms, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol smoking products.

According to the authorities, organization members have substantial firearms and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the state, the political leader, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and referred to the four police officers fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities stating they were "shocked".

In a media appearance the following day, the official 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 intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It was a consequence of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The state leader also said that the victims presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post on online platforms, he said that certain victims had been taken of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A police official of Rio's civil police force also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and weapons" were taken away from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse