On January 19, local time, the police at the state and municipal levels in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, launched a joint operation to eliminate armed drug trafficking organizations in Rio, which is the first step taken by the police in 2022 to "restore normal community life".
In the early morning of the 19th, 1,200 armed policemen began a carpet patrol of the northern slum of Rio and searched for armed drug traffickers. The area is rio where armed drug traffickers are rampant. In May last year, a police operation in the area killed 25 armed drug traffickers, while another police officer and two poor people were killed in a shootout. This is the largest number of casualties in police clearance operations against local armed groups in recent years.
According to the latest information released by the police, as of now, 2 criminal suspects, including 1 fugitive bank robber, have been arrested and 2 motorcycles have been seized in this operation. Local metro traffic is not affected.
It is understood that the police search for armed drug traffickers will be carried out in six slums in Rio city from now on, all of which are areas where organized crime and armed drug trafficking are active.
Rio Governor Castro said he and Rio Mayor Paas will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the results of the first day's "Restoration of Normal Community Life Action" on the 20th. (Reporter Tang Ye)