Rio De Janeiro, Oct 31: At least 132 people were killed including 4 cops during violent raids of the Rio De Janeiro Police on a drug cartel in the city.
The massacre like situation to eliminating drug menace and massive crackdown on the drug cartels, took place at the hustle & bustle area in the Capital City of Brazil.
Earlier, the police operation in the favelas (of Alemão and Penha, in the north of Rio de Janeiro, killed at least 60 people on Tuesday.
The dreaded police operation was to contain the gangs which controled many of its poorer neighbourhoods.
Following the gun-fight, the Police said that among those detained were key members of the Red Command gang who were spreading nuisance, peddling drugs and creating massive violence in the province.
According to reports, at least 132 people died in a massive police raid aimed at organized crime in Rio de Janeiro, the regional public defender’s office said on Wednesday. Among the dead are four Brazilian police officers, the office added.
Following exchange of fire, hundreds of gang members and four policemen were killed following the operation by 2,500 police and soldiers that sparked clashes in two low-income neighborhoods of the city.
After a massive police raid on a notorious drug gang, residents of a Rio de Janeiro favela spent all night collecting bodies in trucks from inside and around their urban community and then laying them down in a central square.
By early morning Wednesday, at least 50 bodies of mostly young men without shirts lay on the ground in Penha, one of two sites targeted in Rio’s deadliest police operation, which is being decried by critics as Brazil's latest example of the excessive use of force.
The raid Tuesday by 2,500 police and soldiers in helicopters, armored vehicles and on foot left at least 64 people dead, including 60 suspected gang members and four policemen, according to state Gov. Claudio Castro and police.
By late Wednesday morning, forensic authorities had retrieved the bodies. The state government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Worth mentioning, Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades. In March 2005, some 29 people were killed in Rio’s Baixada Fluminense region, while in May 2021, 28 were killed in the Jacarezinho favela.
Non-governmental organizations and the UN human rights body quickly raised concerns over the high number of reported fatalities and called for investigations.
The operation's stated objectives were capturing leaders and limiting the territorial expansion of the Red Command criminal gang, which has increased its control over favelas in recent years.
Some 81 suspects were arrested, while 93 rifles and more than half a ton of drugs were seized, the state government said during a news conference.
The police raid drew gunfire and other retaliation from gang members, causing scenes of chaos across the city. Schools in the affected areas shuttered, a local university canceled classes, and roads were blocked with buses used as barricades.
