The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro is experiencing one of the largest police operations in recent years this Tuesday, with intense shootings in two large neighborhoods. At least 56 people have died (including four officers) and dozens have been arrested, the newspaper reports. The Globe. The authorities have deployed some 2,500 police officers in the mega-operation for , which has responded with gunshots and even the launching of grenades from drones against the agents, according to the Secretary of Public Security of Rio. The governor of Rio, Bolsonaro Claudio Castro, has asked the Armed Forces for help because “it is a war that has nothing to do with urban security.”
The shootings have forced the suspension of classes in 45 schools and the rerouting of 12 bus lines..
The main target of the police operation is the head of the Red Command in a Rio neighborhood called Complexo da Penha. The CV is a criminal group that is dedicated to drug trafficking, among other illicit activities, which was born in 1979 in a prison in Rio, has expanded to other States in recent years and is the second
The agents are looking for capo Edgar Alves de Andrade, nicknamed Doca, and dozens of his lieutenants. They have arrested at least 80 people. To catch them, they have carried out a spectacular deployment that includes, in addition to the 2,500 agents, around thirty armored vehicles, two helicopters, police drones and a dozen demolition vehicles.
Governor Castro has stated, in an appearance, that “Rio is alone in this war” fueled by “weapons that come from international drug trafficking.” He has complained that the Armed Forces rejected his requests three times to send him armored vehicles for support.
The Red Command has blocked avenues and streets throughout the city in retaliation. The State of Rio de Janeiro was on alert, as the governor warned. “All the police are on the street and the battalions are ready. We have news that they want to close Brasil Avenue[oneofthecity’smainarteriestodivertattention”[unadelasgrandesarteriasdelaciudadparadesviarlaatención”
The Special Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco) explains in a note that the Complexo da Penha, a group of favelas where thousands of Cariocas live, “is a strategic point for the flow of drugs and weapons, thanks to the fact that it is close to several highways, and has become one of the main bases of the expansionist project of the criminal group.”
One of the investigators who fights organized crime explained to The Globe recently how traffickers from the Red Command use technology to work remotely, so that bosses from border states can operate from a favela in Rio, where it is easier to protect themselves. “They realized that the boss no longer needed to be in his home state. He could be protected in Rio and make decisions by video call,” explained prosecutor Anderson Batista de Oliveira, who coordinates Gaeco in the State of Rondonia. Operating from the heart of a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro “represents a great advantage for all of them. The boss is in a place that is difficult for the police to access, and the organization thus protects its main assets.”
The operation aims to catch the bosses who run the drug trafficking business, distribute the sales and surveillance centers and order the killing of adversaries, but the police are also targeting the accountants who launder the profits and the foot soldiers who guarantee the safety of criminals.
