According to investigations made by the Civil Police, the violent confrontations between drug traffickers and militia members that have been ravaging residents of communities in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone for about 10 days may be related to a dispute for territories in the region. The police identified a movement of drug traffickers to take over some of these areas from the militia: Muzema, Gardênia Azul, and even Rio das Pedras. Cidade de Deus would be the “Headquarters”, and Morro do Banco, in Itanhangá, the “advanced base” of the invasion. Communities in the West Zone of Rio are mostly dominated by militia. Cidade de Deus is an exception and has been under the control of drug traffickers from Comando Vermelho (CV) for years. On the other hand, Gardênia Azul has been dominated by militiamen for three decades but is also the target of disputes between rival paramilitaries. At least seven deaths have occurred in the West Zone in the last few days, and four of them are related to the war in Gardênia Azul.
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Our analysis:
According to the Governor of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro, the invasion perpetrated by Comando Vermelho was possible because militias have been weakened by the intense operations that have been taking place under his government. This is partly true, but it must be analysed carefully. In the past, militias suffered less reprisal from the state, while drug trafficking has always been at war with the police, so they are used to this condition. There have been some major operations against the militias operating in Rio de Janeiro in recent years, and this has had some impact on the strength of these groups, however, the focus of the state’s combat is still much more oriented toward drug trafficking, especially to Comando Vermelho. The vast majority of operations that take place in the state are in territories controlled by Comando Vermelho, around 65%, while in areas dominated by militias this figure is around 22%. In terms of territories dominated by each, the militia dominates 256,28 km², and Comando Vermelho 206,83 km².
A joint operation of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro found, in two weeks, more than 50kg of different types of drugs in packages arriving and leaving the city through the Post Office (Correios), assessed in approximately R$ 5,8 million. Twelve criminals have already been identified and are being investigated. The packages selected as suspicious were taken from the Distribution Center of the Correios, in Benfica, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, between November 30 and December 15 of 2022. 50,7 kg of narcotics were seized, including cannabis, ecstasy, hashish, methamphetamine, cocaine and crack. The weighing of the drugs did not consider the 180 stamps of the synthetic drug NBOme stamp, and the 13.000 bottles of lança-perfume. Superintendent Marcus Vinicius Amim, Head of Narcotics Repression of the Civil Police, also informed that the region that receives most drugs via post office is the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro.
Crime rates released by the Public Security Institute (ISP) revealed that, for the first time since the beginning of the historical series, in 2003, the state of Rio de Janeiro had more than 100.000 scams in a year. There were 123.841 reports of scams in 2022. The number is 74% higher than the previous year and exceeds the sum of scams of 2020 and 2021. The crime is already the second with the highest number of reports, after robberies. Since 2003, the number of cases of fraud has increased 11 times: when it started to be recorded, there were 10.715 cases in a year.
Our analysis:
Several public security institutions have already reported that the number of scams, especially those committed virtually, has been increasing in the past years, and many experts agree that this is a trend for the future as criminals get more sophisticated and are able to perform cyber scams better. Virtual scams appear in a wide variety of types. It is impossible to know all of them, but a reasonable level of security might be obtained if general guidelines regarding the subject are respected. Another important hint is to always keep up to date with new scams that come up locally.
20/01/2023 – A shootout between criminals happened in Gardênia Azul, in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, at dawn. When the police arrived, a new confrontation happened. One woman was hit by two stray bullets and hospitalized.
20/01/2023 – Criminals committed a mass robbery on Avenida Brasil, next to Fazenda Botafogo, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, at 17:40. The Fire Fighters Inspector Colonel Marcos da Costa Alves was inside a bulletproof vehicle with his family and was targeted by the robbers. The offenders shot at his vehicle as he refused to leave it. Even though the car supported the shots, the man decided to handle the car to avoid any risks. The car had a GPS device, which allowed the police to find it in Complexo do Chapadão, nearby.
Our analysis:
The most common level of armor in private vehicles in Brazil is the one resistant to short firearms, such as pistols and revolvers, and although they have some resistance to superior caliber guns, the protection is not complete. Bulletproof vehicles can protect their passengers from shots, but they are not fully reliable because the armor can fail, criminals may use weapons with larger calibers, and the bulletproof glasses may be out of date. The recommended course of action in these cases is to accelerate away and, if possible, head for the nearest police station. It is not recommended to crash the car or hit the criminals in an unnecessary/propositional way, because even being armored, the car may break and leave the victim stranded on the spot. It is essential for those driving bulletproof cars to complete courses on defensive driving. If driving away is not a possibility, the victim should consider handling the vehicle to the criminals and trying not to react with sudden movements.
21/01/2023 – A confrontation between two rival militias took place in Vila Sapê, in Jacarepaguá, in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone. The leaders of both groups were killed in the occasion.
22/01/2023 – A collective fight between street vendors, bathers, Municipal Guard, Military Police and Public Order Secretariat agents took place on the sidewalk of Leme beach, in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone, at night. According to the authorities, agents went to the area to stop the lynching of a man accused of theft by others, but they were attacked by people, who threw glass bottles, and they responded using progressive force. One street vendor was stabbed by another and died.
22/01/2023 – A criminal snatched a golden necklace from a tourist on Avenida Vieira Souto, in Ipanema, in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone, and ran away. Public agents from the Municipal Guard noticed the crime and pursued the criminal. He tried to hide himself under an ice truck on Farme de Amoedo St., but was caught by the authorities and arrested.
22/01/2023 – An intense shootout between a militia and a drug trafficking faction took place in Muzema, in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, at night. The police went to the location after a report, and a new shootout happened.
22/01/2023 – The police arrested the criminal Adriano Cardoso da Silva, aka Modelo, in Vargem Pequena, in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone. The criminal is the son-in-law of Antonio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, aka Nem da Rocinha. Modelo was once pointed out as the drug chief of Rocinha. The criminal lost control of the favela in 2017, when he went to war with Rogério Avelino da Silva, known as Rogério 157, his former ally.
23/01/2023 – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized R$ 135.000 in anabolic steroids and MDMA at the Galeão Airport Post Office, Ilha do Governador, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone.
24/01/2023 – A shootout between criminals and the Military Police happened in Costa Barros, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone. Two criminals were shot and arrested and a semiautomatic rifle, pistol, radios and drugs were seized with them.
26/01/2023 – The Federal Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rio de Janeiro launched, in four states, the Operation End of the World, against money laundering originating from the drug trafficking faction Terceiro Comando Puro (TCP). 11 criminals were arrested and R$ 22 million worth of assets were seized in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Santa Catarina and Paraná states. 26/01/2023 – An intense shootout between rival drug trafficking factions took place in Vila Kennedy, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone. Two men died.