Rio de Janeiro has a line of bodies laid out on a tarp after a major operation.

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The Public Defender's Office of Rio de Janeiro states that there are 132 dead after the mega-operation against Comando Vermelho (CV) this Tuesday, the 28th, the deadliest in the history of the State. Residents of the Complexo da Penha, in the northern zone of Rio, one of the locations where the operation took place, took at least 60 bodies to Praça São Lucas, on Estrada José Rucas, during the early morning hours of this Wednesday, the 29th, afterwards.

Earlier, speaking to TV Globo, the Secretary of the Military Police, Colonel Marcelo de Menezes Nogueira, said that the bodies brought by residents were not included in the count. However, the government has not updated the official tally.

The government of Cláudio Castro (PL) stated that the offensive – which involved 2,500 police officers, armored vehicles, and helicopters – was aimed at advancing into territory dominated by organized crime. The CV (Comando Vermelho) even used drones carrying bombs in their response, which exposed the firepower of the drug traffickers.

“No one in Brazil has ever seen what is happening here,” said Jéssica, a resident standing in front of the line of bodies on Wednesday morning. “No one in Brazil has ever seen what is happening here,” Jéssica affirms.

Activist Raull Santiago, director of the Papo Reto Institute, stated on Instagram that the bodies were found in a wooded area in the Serra da Misericórdia. According to him, the State Civil Defense is on site to remove the bodies.

The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), said on Tuesday, the 28th, that the mega-operation by the State's Civil and Military Police, with the support of the Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor's Office, against members of the Comando Vermelho (CV) in the Alemão and Penha complexes, left 64 dead - of these, four were police officers. It is not confirmed whether the bodies found in Serra da Misericórdia are included in this number or if they are others, which would raise the number of dead.

Sought for comment, the Military Police and the Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro did not respond to Estadão's attempts to contact them.

Rio de Janeiro returned to stage 1 at 6 am this Wednesday, according to the City Hall's Operations Center. Currently, public transportation is operating normally. All roads are open to traffic.

The region had entered stage 2 at 1:48 PM on Tuesday, due to police incidents that intermittently closed several streets in the north, west, and southwest zones of the city, impacting transportation and the movement of the population throughout the city.