At least five suspects died and three were arrested in a police operation on Tuesday in Ladeira dos Tabajaras, a slum in the traditional Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Copacabana, police said Fluminense.
One of the dead was linked to the murder of a civil police officer last month during a false blitz in the west of the city, according to the corporation. The death of the agent, who was married to a criminal judge, motivated the community operation.
Police said traffickers reacted to the police arrived at the favela and shot agents and a corporation helicopter. Residents recorded the scenes on social networks.
“Five members of the criminal faction were neutralized, three drug trafficking leaders in the locality. Among these is Vinícius Kleber Di Carlantoni Martins, the ‘full of hatred’, named as one of the leaders of trafficking in the region. The criminal was responsible for stimulating coward attacks against public security forces,” the Civil Police said in a statement.
Residents reported a climate of fear and panic in Copacabana and in the neighboring neighborhood of Botafogo. “A long time ago I didn’t see it here. The bullet ate up there and a lot of people didn’t leave home with fear. The trade has closed, but then it returned to normal,” a community resident, on condition of anonymity told Reuters.
Some streets of the Botafogo neighborhood were closed to traffic for safety, and schools had the routine all or partially affected.
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“The police reaction will depend on the action of the criminal. If they do not react, there will be no confrontation, and police forces will fulfill the warrants. If there is a reaction, it is an option of them, and we will respond to time,” said the Secretary of State for Civil Police, Delegate Felipe Curi.
Ladeira dos Tabajaras is the scene of the movie “Victory”, which tells the story of a community resident who, from the house window, filmed the movement of corrupt traffickers and police in the southern community of the city.