At least 13 people were killed Thursday during a police operation in a favela near Rio de Janeiro, including a leader of a drug trafficking gang from northern Brazil, authorities said.
"There are 13 dead, two people arrested and a large quantity of weapons seized," Rio de Janeiro police spokesman Fabricio Oliveira told a news conference.
The operation in the Salgueiro complex, located in Sao Gonçalo, a poor suburb of Rio, aimed to capture "members of Comando Vermelho from the state of Para (north) who had taken refuge there", announced the police earlier in a statement.
“It was very violent on their part,” Mr. Oliveira said of what he describes as a “gang that uses military and guerrilla tactics.”
During the intense exchange of fire, two women were injured but are "out of danger", added the police spokesman.
Shortly before nightfall, the operation is still in progress, noted AFP journalists, police forces are deployed at the entrance to the favela.
The Comando Vermelho is one of the main criminal organizations in Brazil, very active in drug trafficking.
Among the deceased is "Leonardo Araujo, known by the code name L41, wanted by the police", "the main leader of the largest criminal organization operating in Para", the governor of this northern state said on Twitter. Helder Barbalho.
According to the police, the organization he led "is mainly responsible for the death of 40 police officers since 2021" in Para.
This police operation also targeted other gang leaders "involved in recent attacks in favelas in the western zone of Rio", where vehicles were set on fire on Wednesday, police said.
Amnesty International Brazil criticized the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro for this operation which ended in "a deadly disaster". "Until when will the population of the outskirts, favelas and black people have to support the war policy led by the police in Rio?" Asked the NGO in a tweet.
In 2021, 1,356 people were killed by police forces in the state of Rio alone, according to the Violence Monitor Project.
For his part, the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro, indicated on Twitter that "two criminal gang leaders in the states of Sergipe (northeast) and Para had been captured".
Claudio Castro thus reported a second police operation, carried out Thursday in the Maré complex, in the north of Rio, which made it possible to arrest the leader of drug trafficking in Sergipe.
03/24/2023 13:01:28 - Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
