🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A photographer who observed the consequences of a large-scale security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people came back with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained those of police officers.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "severely damaged", he reported. Several bodies showed what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during the security action on a criminal gang - the bloodiest action Rio has experienced.

Bruno Itan explained that residents first notified him concerning the action in the early hours by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were arriving.

The photographer stated that the police blocked media personnel from entering the affected area, where the security measures were taking place.

"Police officers formed a line and said: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who grew up in the area, explained he was able to gain access into the restricted zone, where he continued until dawn.

He explained that evening, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that borders Penha from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood arranged the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos display the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The brutality of what occurred affected me a lot: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, outraged parents," the photographer recalled.

The photographer

The official of the region announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 security personnel was aimed at preventing an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

Initially, the Rio state government maintained that sixty individuals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that their "preliminary" count shows that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has put the final tally of casualties to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, and has a history extending half a century.

Based on reporter an expert, who has long reported on crime in Rio for years, the gang "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders joining the organization and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang focuses mainly on drug trafficking, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, fuel, beverages and tobacco.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members have substantial firearms and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of the region, Cláudio Castro, described organization participants as criminal extremists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities saying it was "appalled".

At a news conference the following day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he said.

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

The state leader also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

Through a message on online platforms, he said that particular individuals had been stripped of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A police official representing security forces further reported that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" had been removed from the casualties and presented video appearing to show a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse