Police in Brazil have launched a major operation, under which 132 people from drug gangs have been killed in Rio de Janeiro so far. The state police clarified that this operation was planned two months ago to target a major drug gang. However, locals have accused the police of committing genocide.
On the sidewalk of a crossroad on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, these bodies were kept in a single queue. Residents said that many of the bodies were stripped down to their underwear so that their relatives could identify them, while the rest were covered with sheets.
The Brazilian state police said that this operation, which was aimed at eliminating a major drug gang, had been planned for more than two months. The plan was to take the suspects to a forested mountain area, where a special operations unit was deployed to intercept them.
However, it is still unclear how the massive operation went and whether civilians were among the dead. An official later admitted that the operation did not succeed in its main goal of capturing a top gang leader.
The Brazilian police operation took place in Rio de Janeiro, a war-like situation. The city has long been controlled by drug lords such as the Commando Vermelho (CV) (also known as the Red Commando) and the Terceiro Commando Puro (TCP). The gangs, which run drug trafficking syndicates, also sell illegal weapons, seize land and collect security taxes from locals. In late October 2025, the mayor of Rio and the state government launched an operation called Operation Rio Pacificado for this purpose.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sent a ministerial committee to Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday and pledged federal support for the forensic investigation. “We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents and spread drugs and violence in cities,” Lula said in a post on X.
The ‘Commando Vermelho’ (Red Commando) is Brazil’s oldest and most influential mafia gang, founded in the 1970s as a group of political prisoners in prison and now an international drug trafficking network. The operation was planned for more than a year to stop the mafia’s expansion.
This major and drastic action against the drug mafia in Rio de Janeiro has been deemed necessary to maintain the security and peace of the city ahead of UN events (pre-events of COP30, such as the C40 Global Mayors Summit and the Earthshot Prize – which are scheduled to take place in the first week of November), as there were already concerns about the mafia’s growing influence.
