BRAZILIAN police have been accused of beheading a teenage gangster and hanging his head from a tree as a trophy in a chilling warning to criminals.
It came as the deadliest raid ever in a Rio de Janeiro favela left at least 119 dead, including four police officers.
The shocking claim emerged after residents of the Complexo da Penha favela discovered dozens of bodies dumped in nearby forests.
One of them was said to be the son of Raquel Tomás, 19 years old.
The distraught mother said: “They slit my son’s throat, cut his throat and hung his head from a tree as if it were a trophy.
“They executed my son without giving him the opportunity to defend himself. They murdered him.”
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Raquel said her son “deserved a second chance” and accused police of carrying out executions during the crackdown that has left at least 119 dead, including four officers.
Lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, who represents three grieving families, said several bodies had burn marks and that some victims had been tied up before being killed.
“Some were murdered in cold blood,” he said.
The horror unfolded as Brazil prepares to host world leaders and famous figures, including Prince William, for the COP30 climate summit next month.
The bloodbath has put a spotlight on Rio’s “war on narcoterrorism,” as officials call it, after drug trafficking factions launched drone bomb attacks on police in revenge for a massive crackdown.
“This is how criminals treat Rio police: with bombs dropped by drones,” a police spokesman said.
“This is not an ordinary crime, but narcoterrorism.”
Residents described scenes of chaos as gunshots rang out in the Penha favela.
“Everyone is terrified because there are so many shots,” said one local.
jungle battle
Police drone footage captured dozens of heavily armed traffickers fleeing through the Serra da Misericórdia forest as officers stormed the Penha and Alemão complexes.
The images obtained by G1 Globe It shows 23 armed men, some dressed in camouflage as police, gathering at dawn at the top of the favela before joining a larger group of 80 armed men heading into the jungle.
According to investigators, the fugitives included senior leaders of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command), the oldest and most powerful drug trafficking faction in Rio, and heads of other Brazilian states.
The faction’s main target, a trafficker known as Doca, allegedly escaped through the forest, which police say also serves as a training ground for new recruits, including children.
Rio Public Security Secretary Victor Santos said: “The forests used in the escape also serve as a training area for new members of the faction, including minors.”
The mega-operation, which mobilized 2,500 officers backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and drones, turned the slopes into war zones.
The officers said they deliberately pushed the criminals into the forest to protect the population in a mission planned for months.
Military police secretary Marcelo de Menezes said: “The elite special forces had deliberately pushed the criminals into the forest adjacent to the favela, where most of the fighting took place.”
Governor Claudio Castro called the attack a success and insisted that the only victims were armed gang members.
“The only victims were the police officers who were murdered,” Castro said, calling the mission an attack against “narcoterrorism.”
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a balanced approach to combating organized crime.
“We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents and spread drugs and violence throughout the cities,” Lula wrote in X.
“We need coordinated work that attacks the backbone of drug trafficking without putting police officers, children and innocent families at risk.”
The president, who faces re-election in 2026, sent his Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski to Rio to offer federal help “to overcome this security crisis as quickly as possible.”
The Red Command controls more than a thousand favelas in Rio de Janeiro – around six out of every ten communities in the state – and has expanded its empire nationwide, Globo reported.
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The gang finances its operations by taxing residents for basic services such as gas, internet and transportation, and has extended its network to 24 states and the Federal District, according to government data.
Their rule has turned areas of Rio into lawless enclaves, areas that are now at the heart of the deadliest police operation ever recorded in Rio.
