🔗 Share this article

The photographer

A reporter who observed the consequences of a large-scale Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has described how residents returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained those of police officers.

One of the bodies was found without a head - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he initially learned about the operation Tuesday morning by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were coming in.

The photographer stated that the police stopped members of the press from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures was under way.

"Security forces formed a line and said: 'Media representatives cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the area, reported he was able to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed until dawn.

He described during the night, local residents started looking the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the documented evidence display the reaction of the people there.

"The harsh reality of the situation shook me deeply: the sorrow of the families, women collapsing, expectant spouses, sobbing, outraged parents," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

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

Initially, local officials claimed that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of fatalities as 132.

Per investigative findings, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity that recently has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in the country, alongside another major gang, and has a history extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering criminal activity in the city over many years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders joining the organization and acting as "business partners".

The criminal group engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, beverages and tobacco.

According to the authorities, organization members are well armed and police said that throughout the operation, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, the government representative, described gang affiliates as criminal extremists and described the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "horrified".

At a news conference on Wednesday, the official defended the police force.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he said.

He further explained that the events intensified as the individuals fought back: "It was a consequence of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the victims presented by community members in Penha had been "manipulated".

Through a message on social media, he asserted that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A law enforcement representative of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and showed footage seemingly depicting an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse