Police allegedly decapitated a teen gangster and hung his head from a tree as a warning after a bloody gang crackdown in Brazil ahead of next month’s flagship COP30 Climate Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
More than 100 alleged gangbangers were hunted and killed in Brazil’s deadliest-ever police operation, which began Tuesday in two of Rio’s favelas and targeted drug traffickers.
Police said it followed a yearlong investigation into the dangerous Red Command gang, which originated in Rio’s prison system and has expanded its power in recent years.
The violent raids have sparked intense gun battles, with gangs deploying drones against cops in retaliation. At least four cops have also been killed in the unprecedented violence.
The body of a 19-year-old alleged gangbanger was found missing a head on Tuesday after the police stormed the Penha district of Rio, according to Brazilian media.
The teen’s mom said they hung her son’s head “from a tree like a trophy.”
“They slit my son’s throat, cut his neck, and hung the head from a tree like a trophy,” Raquel Tomas told local media.
“They executed my son without giving him a chance to defend himself. He was murdered.
“Everyone deserves a second chance. During an operation, police should do their job, arrest suspects, but not execute them,” the grieving mom added.
Some of the bodies allegedly bore signs of possible torture, such as “burn marks,” and many of the dead had been tied up, lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, who is representing three of the grieving families, told Brazilian media.
Several bodies of alleged gang members were also displayed in the streets, wearing just their underwear.
Hundreds of police with helicopters, armored vehicles and drones entered the two sprawling favelas that house the Red Command, Rio’s oldest drug trafficking group, exchanging heavy gunfire.
Gangbangers allegedly responded to the violence by dropping bombs and launching drones on the police after blocking the exits from the slum using buses as barricades.
“This is how the Rio police are treated by criminals: with bombs dropped by drones,” a police spokesperson said.
“This is the scale of the challenge we face. This is not an ordinary crime, but narco-terrorism.”
Rio cops said they deliberately moved known “criminals” into the forest next to the favela to “protect the population,” military police secretary Marcelo de Menezes told a press conference.
Authorities also insist they didn’t display the bodies half naked to humiliate them, but said residents had stripped them to take the “camouflage clothing, vests and weapons” they had on them, civil police secretary Felipe Curi told a press conference.
The number of dead rose from 119 to 121 on Thursday, while a total of 113 people were detained and 91 rifles and large quantities of drugs were seized, according to authorities.
Residents of the neighborhood, one of the poorest in Rio, have been left in constant fear for their lives.
“This is the first time we’ve seen drones from criminals dropping bombs in the community. Everyone is terrified because there’s so much gunfire,” a resident told Brazilian media.
The upsurge in violence between the drug gangs and the police comes just days before Brazil is set to host world leaders at the COP30 climate summit, which begins Nov. 11.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he was “greatly concerned” by the casualty numbers, his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters on Thursday.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “horrified” by the violence and called for “swift investigations,” according to a statement.
