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Bruno Itan

A reporter who observed the results of a large-scale law enforcement action in Rio de Janeiro has described how local people came back with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept coming: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan described. The total contained security forces.

One individual was found without a head - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Several bodies showed what appeared to be stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were killed in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer stated that he was first alerted to the raid early on Tuesday by community members of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness went to the healthcare center, where the bodies were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that security forces stopped members of the press from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers created a barrier and declared: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, stated he was able to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed through the night.

He described during the night, community members began to search the hillside which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people from the Penha area organized the recovered bodies in a square - the documented evidence display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of it all affected me deeply: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, women carrying children, weeping, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region declared that the extensive law enforcement effort involving around 2,500 officers was designed to halting a gang known as the criminal faction from increasing their control.

Initially, local officials stated that "60 suspects along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The public legal service, that gives legal support to low-income residents, has put the total number of casualties as 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization represents the unique criminal entity that recently has been able to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs nationally, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline extending half a century.

According to correspondent an expert, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio for years, the criminal organization "functions as a network" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and serving as "operational allies".

The criminal group concentrates largely on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in guns, gold, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

According to the authorities, gang members possess significant weaponry and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, described organization participants as drug terrorists and referred to the four police officers killed in the raid as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "appalled".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader justified security actions.

"There was no objective to kill anyone. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He further explained that the situation intensified due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they executed and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The official further reported that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement through digital channels, he said that some of them had been taken of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official of Rio's civil police force additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and weapons" had been removed from the casualties and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person stripping military attire {off a corpse