Police allegedly decapitated a teen gangster and hung his head from a tree as a warning after a bloody gang crackdown in Brazil forward of subsequent month’s flagship COP30 Local weather Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Greater than 100 alleged gangbangers had been hunted and killed in Brazil’s deadliest-ever police operation, which started Tuesday in two of Rio’s favelas and focused drug traffickers.
Police stated it adopted a yearlong investigation into the harmful Crimson Command gang, which originated in Rio’s jail system and has expanded its energy lately.
The violent raids have sparked intense gun battles, with gangs deploying drones towards cops in retaliation. Not less than 4 cops have additionally been killed within the unprecedented violence.
The physique of a 19-year-old alleged gangbanger was discovered lacking a head on Tuesday after the police stormed the Penha district of Rio, in response to Brazilian media.
The teenager’s mother stated they hung her son’s head “from a tree like a trophy.”
“They slit my son’s throat, minimize his neck, and hung the top from a tree like a trophy,” Raquel Tomas instructed native media.
“They executed my son with out giving him an opportunity to defend himself. He was murdered.
“Everybody deserves a second likelihood. Throughout an operation, police ought to do their job, arrest suspects, however not execute them,” the grieving mother added.
Among the our bodies allegedly bore indicators of attainable torture, resembling “burn marks,” and lots of the useless had been tied up, lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, who’s representing three of the grieving households, instructed Brazilian media.
A number of our bodies of alleged gang members had been additionally displayed within the streets, sporting simply their underwear.
A whole bunch of police with helicopters, armored autos and drones entered the 2 sprawling favelas that home the Crimson Command, Rio’s oldest drug trafficking group, exchanging heavy gunfire.
Gangbangers allegedly responded to the violence by dropping bombs and launching drones on the police after blocking the exits from the slum utilizing buses as barricades.
“That is how the Rio police are handled by criminals: with bombs dropped by drones,” a police spokesperson stated.
“That is the size of the problem we face. This isn’t an peculiar crime, however narco-terrorism.”
Rio cops stated they intentionally moved recognized “criminals” into the forest subsequent to the favela to “defend the inhabitants,” navy police secretary Marcelo de Menezes instructed a press convention.
Authorities additionally insist they didn’t show the our bodies half bare to humiliate them, however stated residents had stripped them to take the “camouflage clothes, vests and weapons” that they had on them, civil police secretary Felipe Curi instructed a press convention.
The variety of useless rose from 119 to 121 on Thursday, whereas a complete of 113 individuals had been detained and 91 rifles and huge portions of medication had been seized, in response to authorities.
Residents of the neighborhood, one of many poorest in Rio, have been left in fixed concern for his or her lives.
“That is the primary time we’ve seen drones from criminals dropping bombs locally. Everyone seems to be terrified as a result of there’s a lot gunfire,” a resident instructed Brazilian media.
The upsurge in violence between the drug gangs and the police comes simply days earlier than Brazil is about to host world leaders on the COP30 local weather summit, which begins Nov. 11.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres stated he was “drastically involved” by the casualty numbers, his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, instructed reporters on Thursday.
The Workplace of the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights stated it was “horrified” by the violence and referred to as for “swift investigations,” in response to an announcement.
With Publish wires
