Rio cops ‘DECAPITATE teen gangster and display his head like a trophy’ as narco mobsters bomb police with drones in revenge for bloodbath crackdown

Gang warfare in Rio de Janeiro has descended into shocking brutality; Police have been accused of beheading a teenage gangster and hanging his head from a tree following Brazil’s bloodiest ever slum raid.

The bloody war unfolded just days before Brazil hosted Prince William and world leaders at the COP30 climate summit, when angry narco gangsters bombed police with drones in revenge for the deadly crackdown.

Explosives rained down on police officers in the Penha district during a grisly escalation of the conflict in Rio, revealing the city’s violent underbelly ahead of the global event.

‘This is how criminals treat Rio police: with drone bombs,’ a police spokesman said.

‘This is the extent of the challenge we face. ‘This is not an ordinary crime, it is narco-terrorism.’

One resident added: ‘This is the first time we’ve seen criminals dropping bombs on communities with drones. ‘Everyone’s scared because there’s a lot of gunfire.’

The airstrikes followed a brutal police crackdown that left at least 119 people dead; This has highlighted his controversial war against drug gangs based in the city’s poorest neighbourhoods.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called for action against organized crime that does not endanger police or civilians, as security issues emerge just days before Brazil hosts the COP30 UN climate talks in the Amazon.

A man looks at the bodies of people killed during a police raid targeting the Comando Vermelho gang in the Complexo da Penha slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 29, 2025.

Bodies are seen lined up in Sao Lucas Square of the Vila Cruzeiro favela in the Penha complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 29, 2025.

A woman mourns the bodies of people killed during a gang raid in Brazil on Tuesday

While the families of the dead condemned what they called the executions by the police, the state government welcomed the successful operation against a powerful criminal organization that had taken over a large part of Rio de Janeiro.

The divisive police raid exposed the violent underbelly of a city loved by tourists for its idyllic beaches and vibrant culture.

State officials said the provisional death toll now stands at 119, including 115 suspected criminals and 4 police officers.

“We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents, and spread drugs and violence across cities,” Lula wrote to X.

‘We need coordinated action that strikes at the backbone of drug trafficking, without putting innocent police officers, children and families at risk.’

The 80-year-old veteran leftist is aiming for a fourth term in office in the 2026 elections, when Brazil’s security issues are expected to be a key issue of the campaign.

He sent justice minister Ricardo Lewandowski to Rio de Janeiro to meet with right-wing state governor Claudio Castro to offer cooperation with the federal government.

Bodies piled up in Rio de Janeiro’s poor neighborhoods on October 28 as police launched their biggest-ever raid on the city’s drug traffickers, leaving at least 132 people dead in war-like scenes.

Drone footage shows mourners gathering around bodies in Brazil on October 29, 2025

Relatives of those killed in a gang raid in Brazil on Tuesday mourn

Some 2,500 heavily armed officers, backed by armored vehicles, helicopters and drones, participated in the operation targeting Brazil’s main drug trafficking gang in two Rio slums.

Lewandowski told a press conference that he had offered assistance to Rio to ‘overcome this security crisis as quickly as possible’.

The Prince of Wales, 43, will travel to the capital next week to present the environmental Earthshot award, an award that awards £1 million to environmental innovations.

But security is being stepped up following ‘unprecedented bloodshed’.

A source told the Daily Mirror: ‘Following unprecedented bloodshed during violent gang clashes, the government has recruited thousands more officers and army officers.

‘All eyes will be on Rio while William is there and there are serious concerns that violence will break out again while he is in Brazil.’

A day after a police operation paralyzed the city, residents of the Complexo da Penha shantytown pulled dozens of bodies from a forest on the outskirts of the city, according to testimony from local journalists; one of them was decapitated.

Raquel Tomas, the mother of the 19-year-old boy whose head was found cut off, said, “They slit my son’s throat, cut his neck and hung his head on a tree like a trophy.”

‘They executed my son without giving him a chance to defend himself. “He was killed,” he told local media, his voice trembling.

‘Everyone deserves a second chance. “During an operation, the police must do their job, arrest but not execute suspects,” Tomas added.

Albino Pereira Neto, a lawyer representing three families who lost their relatives, told reporters that there were “burn marks” on some of the bodies and that some of those killed were tied.

Some said he was ‘killed in cold blood’.

The raid also caused alarm abroad; Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, told reporters he was “very concerned” by the death toll.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was ‘appalled’ and called for a ‘rapid investigation’.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes summoned Castro to appear for a hearing on Monday to explain the police’s actions.

On Tuesday, hundreds of police backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and drones entered two vast slums that are strongholds of Comando Vermelho (Red Command), Rio’s oldest and most powerful drug trafficking group.

While terrified residents tried to hide, police and suspected gang members fired intense gunfire.

As the operation continued, Comando Vermelho seized dozens of buses and used them to barricade major highways and sent drones to attack police with explosives, authorities said.

Castro called the raid on what he called “narcoterrorism” a “success” and said the only victims were the police officers who were killed.

The operation followed more than a year of planning to combat gang members who concentrated their operations in maze-like communities that bore the brunt of the violence.

Military police secretary Marcelo de Menezes told a news conference that elite special forces deliberately pushed ‘criminals’ into the forest next to the slum where most of the fighting took place to ‘protect the population’.

Meanwhile, civilian police secretary Felipe Curi claimed that the bodies displayed on the street were in their underwear because their “camouflage clothes, vests and weapons” were removed by citizens.

Authorities said 113 people were detained and a large amount of drugs were seized, as well as 91 rifles.