The victims kept arriving - photographer recounts lethal Rio law enforcement operation

Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the results of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has described how residents returned with disfigured remains of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept piling up: the count kept increasing", the eyewitness stated. They included security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "completely mutilated", he reported. Numerous victims displayed evidence of blade trauma.

More than 120 people were killed during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness stated that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by local people living in Alemão, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the bodies were being brought.

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from entering the affected area, where the operation were taking place.

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

But Itan, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to make his way into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning.

He reported that evening, community members started looking the hillside that separates the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for loved ones who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the documented evidence show the response of those present.

"The harsh reality of what occurred impacted me deeply: the grief of the families, women collapsing, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The state leader of the state declared that the massive police operation involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at stopping a gang known as Red Command from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities claimed that "60 suspects and four police officers" had been killed in the raid.

They have since said that initial estimates indicates that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the total number of people killed to be 132.

According to researchers, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has managed to increase its control across the region.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, together with First Capital Command, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has long reported on crime in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses forming part of the gang and serving as "business partners".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, while also dealing in firearms, gold, petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, gang members have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones.

The state leader of the state, Cláudio Castro, characterized gang affiliates as criminal extremists and described the four police officers killed in the raid as "heroes".

But the number of casualties in the security action has faced scrutiny with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".

At a news conference 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 added that the circumstances had escalated due to the alleged criminals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the resistance they carried out and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official additionally stated that the bodies presented by community members in the neighborhood were "altered".

Via a statement through digital channels, he said that some of them had been stripped of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement".

A police official from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, vests, and arms" had been removed from the bodies and displayed evidence appearing to show a man cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse