Police resume operation against factions in Rio and occupy “tactical training center”

Rio de Janeiro security forces began this Tuesday (10) the second day of a joint operation against drug trafficking in the state. Police officers retook a sports center in Complexo da Maré that had been transformed into a “tactical training” field by a criminal faction.

Around 1,000 men from the Civil and Military police were sent to communities in Maré controlled by the Third Pure Command (TCP), in an operation covering eight locations, including Vila do João and Vila dos Pinheiros, with 54 arrest warrants for to fulfill.

José Renato Torres, secretary of the Civil Police, highlighted that the operation seeks to return public spaces to residents and the community, mainly a club that became emblematic with the swimming pool used in “faction classes”.

“It is a response from the State mainly for returning this public space, which was emblematic with the swimming pool, to the residents, children and the community. Yesterday we attacked one faction and today we are attacking another. The siege has been going on since dawn,” Torres told G1.

According to information from the Rio government, the entrances to the Maré communities were surrounded by the police. Images posted on social media show the reoccupation of the training center used by drug traffickers in the complex.

As shown by the People’s Gazette Also in 2022, decisions by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that restricted security force operations in Rio de Janeiro communities contributed to the strengthening and expansion of territories dominated by criminal factions in the state. The restrictions led to the installation of barricades and training on drug dealers’ guerrilla tactics.

Agents also returned to Cidade de Deus, one of the targets of the previous day’s operation, and went to Complexo da Pedreira to arrest those responsible for detonating a homemade bomb on a bus.

On the first day of operations, after intense shootings in different parts of the capital controlled by the Red Command (CV), nine people were arrested, including a PM. Two bodies were taken to the Getúlio Vargas State Hospital, but it is not known whether they were related to the operation. In addition, two helicopters were hit by gunfire and had to make an emergency landing.

The Civil Police investigation, which lasted two years, gathered images of heavily armed criminals receiving training at various times of the day, including simulated bomb use. Agents identified at least 400 TCP members in the club area.

On the first day of the operation, around 1,000 men from the Civil and Military police tried to arrest the main leaders of Comando Vermelho (CV), the largest drug trafficking faction in the state. The teams were sent to Maré, Penha and Cidade de Deus, all communities dominated by the CV.

The action was a response to the death of three doctors in Barra da Tijuca last week and sought to contain territorial disputes with militiamen in the West Zone of Rio. Initially, the RJ government reported that the agents left with “at least 100 arrest warrants” , but at night the number was corrected to 60, with six arrests made and three arrests in the act.

Men from BOPE and Core, elite units of the Civil Police and Military Police, as well as specialized police stations, participate in the operation in places such as Complexo da Penha, Vila Cruzeiro, Nova Holanda and Parque União, all in Maré, and the City of God.