BRAZILIAN police have been accused of decapitating a teenage gangster and hanging his head from a tree like a trophy in a chilling warning to criminals.
It came as Rio de Janeiro’s deadliest-ever favela raid saw at least 119 dead, including four police officers.
The shocking claim emerged after locals in the Complexo da Penha favela discovered dozens of bodies dumped in nearby woods.
One of them was said to be the 19-year-old son of Raquel Tomas.
The distraught mum said: “They slit my son’s throat, cut his neck, and hung the head from a tree like a trophy.
“They executed my son without giving him a chance to defend himself. He was murdered.”
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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 people dead, including four officers.
Lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, representing three bereaved families, said several bodies bore burn marks and some victims had been tied up before being killed.
“Some were murdered in cold blood,” he said.
The horror unfolded as Brazil braces to host world leaders and famous figures, including Prince William, for the COP30 climate summit next month.
The bloodbath has thrown a harsh spotlight on Rio’s “war on narco-terrorism,” as officials call it, after drug factions launched drone bomb attacks on police in revenge for the massive crackdown.
“This is how the Rio police are treated by criminals: with bombs dropped by drones,” a police spokesperson said.
“This is not ordinary crime, but narco-terrorism.”
Residents described scenes of chaos as gunfire echoed through the Penha favela.
“Everyone is terrified because there’s so much gunfire,” one local said.
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 Globo G1 show 23 armed men, some wearing camouflage like police, gathered at dawn at the top of the favela before joining a larger group of 80 gunmen heading into the jungle.
According to investigators, the fugitives included senior leaders of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) – Rio’s oldest and most powerful drug faction – and bosses from other Brazilian states.
The faction’s top target, a trafficker known as Doca, reportedly escaped through the forest, which police say doubles as a training ground for new recruits, including children.
Rio’s Secretary of Public Security, Victor Santos, said: “The woods 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, armoured vehicles and drones, turned the hillsides into warzones.
Officers said they deliberately pushed criminals into the forest to protect the population in a mission planned for months.
Military police secretary Marcelo de Menezes said: “Elite special forces had deliberately pushed criminals into the forest abutting the favela, where the majority of fighting took place.”
Governor Claudio Castro hailed the assault as a success, insisting the only victims were armed gang members.
“The only victims were the police officers who were killed,” Castro said, calling the mission a strike against “narcoterrorism.”
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a balanced approach to tackling organized crime.
“We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents, and spread drugs and violence throughout the cities,” Lula wrote on X.
“We need coordinated work that strikes at the backbone of drug trafficking without putting innocent police officers, children, and families at risk.”
The president, who faces re-election in 2026, dispatched his justice minister Ricardo Lewandowski to Rio to offer federal help “to overcome this security crisis as quickly as possible.”
The Comando Vermelho controls more than a thousand favelas across Rio de Janeiro – about six in ten of the state’s communities – 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 transport, and has spread its network into 24 states and the Federal District, according to government data.
Its dominance has turned swathes of Rio into lawless enclaves, areas now at the heart of Rio’s most lethal police operation on record.