The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rio de Janeiro filed two complaints against six Shock Battalion officers for embezzlement and aggravated theft during Operation Containment, carried out on October 28 in the Complexo do Alemão and Vila Cruzeiro slums.

The complaint was filed on Saturday (Nov. 29) and is based on images captured by operational cameras on police uniforms. The recordings show 3rd Sergeant Marcos Vinicius Pereira Silva Vieira collecting a rifle similar to an AK-47 in a residence where about 25 men had already surrendered. Instead of sending the weapon to the group responsible for accounting for seized material, he leaves the scene.

Moments later, Vieira meets 3rd Sergeant Charles William Gomes dos Santos. The two put the rifle in a backpack and fail to record it among the seized items. The embezzlement complaint was filed on Friday (28).

Regarding the same operation, another complaint shows Warrant Officer Marcelo Luiz do Amaral, Sergeant Eduardo de Oliveira Coutinho, and two other police officers dismantling a Fiat Toro parked in Vila Cruzeiro.

The cameras record Coutinho removing the engine cover, headlight, and rearview mirror covers. Amaral and another police officer ensure conditions for the theft, including attempting to disable the body cameras. Another officer, identified as Machado, witnesses the entire action and does not intervene. The complaint was filed on Saturday (29).

In both cases, the Public Prosecutor’s Office identified attempts to manipulate the body cameras by the accused police officers, who tried to cover the lenses, change the recording angle, and even turn off the equipment. Such actions violate official protocols, undermine the production of evidence, compromise the recording of police activities, and interfere with internal and external control of the use of force, says the institution.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Military Audit Office continue to analyze all the images captured during the operation, which amount to dozens of hours of recording. The goal is to identify other possible irregularities and violations in the use of the cameras.

Mega-operation

Considered the deadliest operation in Rio de Janeiro in recent years, Operation Containment aimed, according to Rio de Janeiro Public Security, to contain the advances of the Comando Vermelho criminal organization. A total of 122 people were killed, including five police officers.