Operation against criminal organization in Bahia arrests 35; 1 killed
At least 35 people suspected of involvement in organized crime in Bahia state, Northeast Brazil, were arrested on Tuesday morning (Nov. 4) during a Civil Police operation against the criminal organization Comando Vermelho in the state.
Aimed at dismantling the armed and financial nucleus of the gang in Bahia, Operation Freedom was supported by the Military Police of Bahia, the Civil Police of the neighboring state of Ceará, and the Federal Police.
In addition to the cities of Salvador and Eusébio, warrants are being served in Ilhéus and Aratuípe, in Bahia. The court also authorized the freezing of 51 bank accounts linked to those under investigation.
According to public security authorities in Bahia, a man was killed when he resisted police action. The man, whose name was not disclosed, was not among the targets of the more than 90 warrants being served, but he had a criminal record. He was known to the police for allegedly organizing attacks on rival Comando Vermelho subgroups in Bahia, and he reacted with gunfire when officers attempted to arrest some of those under investigation in the Uruguai neighborhood in the lower city of Salvador.
According to the state secretariat, the crackdown is the result of an investigation that began in 2022, which found that the main suspects are believed to have been involved in at least 30 murders in Salvador and in expanding the criminal organization’s activities to a number of cities in Bahia.
Among those arrested this morning is a couple suspected of leading the criminal faction in Salvador. The man, from Bahia, whose identity has also not been confirmed, is believed to be responsible for organizing drug trafficking and attacks on rival groups. His partner is accused of organizing the organization’s finances. The two were arrested in Eusébio, in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, capital of Ceará.
Operation Containment
The raid in Bahia comes exactly one week after the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police launched Operação Contenção (“Operation Containment”) against the same criminal organization.
Criticized by human rights organizations, residents’ associations, and experts, but well received by a portion of the population, the police action in Rio de Janeiro resulted in 121 deaths, including four police officers.
Twenty of the 100 arrest warrants were served during the massive operation in the Alemão and Penha complexes. In total, 113 arrests were made in flagrante delicto. The main target of the operation, Edgar Alves de Andrade, known as Doca, was not found and remains at large.
Rio de Janeiro Governor Cláudio Castro described the operation as “a success.” Amnesty International classified the result of the deployment of 2,500 civil and military police officers as “disastrous.” In the case of Rio, the raid did not receive federal support.
“Public security authorities [in Rio de Janeiro] say that this was a planned operation – [but] an operation with so many deaths?” questioned the executive director of Amnesty International in Brazil, Dr. Jurema Werneck, in an interview with TV Brasil.
