RIO DE JANEIRO: At least 64 people, including four police officers, have been confirmed dead following a large-scale security operation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, authorities announced on Tuesday, October 26.
The deadly clashes erupted after more than 2,500 heavily armed military and civil police officers raided several communities in an operation targeting the state’s most powerful criminal organization, the Comando Vermelho (CV), or “Red Command.
The group, notorious for drug trafficking, extortion, and violent territorial control, has long been a dominant force in Rio’s criminal underworld.
Officials said the sweeping operation codenamed Operação Contenção (Operation Containment) was part of a year-long crackdown aimed at halting the gang’s territorial expansion.
The offensive led to intense firefights, with videos from the scene showing thick smoke and continuous gunfire echoing across several neighbourhoods.
Authorities reported that 81 suspected gang members were arrested, while security forces recovered 42 rifles and other weapons during the raids.
Governor Cláudio Castro warned that the casualty figures could rise as police continued to comb the affected areas, urging residents to remain indoors for safety.
In one of the most alarming incidents of the operation, officials claimed that gang members deployed a drone to drop explosives on advancing police units in the Penha Complex.
The state government later released video evidence that appeared to show the drone firing projectiles at law enforcement personnel.
Governor Castro condemned the attacks, describing the situation as narco-terrorism. He defended the intensity of the police response, saying, this is no longer ordinary crime.
We are facing a terrorist organisation that must be confronted with all the force of the law.
The Comando Vermelho, founded in the 1970s, has long been at the center of violent confrontations with both rival gangs and state forces.
Analysts say the latest raid marks one of the largest coordinated anti-drug operations in Rio’s history reflecting Brazil’s escalating struggle to contain organized crime in urban areas.
