🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A reporter who documented the aftermath of a massive Brazilian police operation in Rio de Janeiro has recounted how community members returned with disfigured remains of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness described. Among them were those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed evidence of knife injuries.

In excess of 120 victims were killed in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer reported that he initially learned to the raid in the early hours by residents living in Alemão, who reached out alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that security forces prevented journalists from entering the operation zone, where the operation were occurring.

"Security forces formed a line and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."

But Itan, who was raised in that neighborhood, stated he was able to gain access into the restricted zone, where he remained until the next morning.

He reported that Tuesday night, area inhabitants started looking the elevated terrain which divides Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who had been missing after the operation.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me deeply: the sorrow of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

Bruno Itan

The official of the state stated that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to preventing a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the overall count of casualties at 132.

According to researchers, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, together with another major gang, and has a history extending half a century.

Per reporter a specialist, who has long reported on illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "operational allies".

The organization engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, gold, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the state, the government representative, described organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

But the number of people killed in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

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

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

He further explained that the circumstances intensified because the suspects had retaliated: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The governor further reported that the victims displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Through a message on online platforms, he asserted that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, vests, and weapons" were stripped from the casualties and showed footage apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse