🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the results of a massive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how local people came back with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were security forces.

One individual was discovered headless - additional victims were "severely damaged", he reported. Many also had what he described as blade trauma.

Over 120 individuals were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The photographer stated that he was first alerted about the operation in the early hours by local people from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were being brought.

Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the police action was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, reported he was able to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until dawn.

He described during the night, local residents started looking the mountainous area which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for relatives who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people living in Penha organized the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos show the response of the people there.

"The brutality of the situation impacted me a lot: the pain of the families, women collapsing, expectant spouses, weeping, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The state leader of Rio state stated that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to halting a gang called Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Originally, local officials maintained that sixty individuals along with four officers" had been killed in the operation.

They have since said that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the overall count of fatalities to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that in the past few years has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

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

Based on correspondent an expert, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, while also dealing in guns, precious metals, fuel, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the state, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as drug terrorists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities saying it was "shocked".

During a press briefing the next day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"It wasn't our intention to kill anyone. We aimed to take suspects into custody without harm," he said.

He added that the situation intensified as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The state leader additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he asserted that particular individuals had been removed of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

A police official from the police department further reported that military attire, vests, and weapons" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence seemingly depicting an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse