02/16/2024 – 20:04
Three men, including an alleged leader of the criminal faction, were killed this Friday, the 16th, in a confrontation with military police, in Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo. Now there are 26 dead in clashes with security agents in the region.
According to the Military Police, the confrontation took place around 6 am, when agents from the Special Operations Coordination (COE) entered an apartment, in the Santa Cruz dos Navegantes neighborhood, in search of a suspect known as Danone. In addition to the suspect, the two people who were with him were shot and died.
The Secretary of Public Security, Guilherme Derrite, published a video on social media in which a man appears holding a gun during a party. “The man who appears in the video displaying a weapon in this manner was known as Danone and died today in a confrontation with the COE (Special Operations Command). A member of a criminal organization, he was involved in international drug trafficking and is suspected of involvement in attacks on the lives of public officials,” he wrote.
Also according to the secretary, Danone, identified as Rodrigo Pires dos Santos, aged 40, was the leader of the group caught shooting at a Federal Revenue vessel in 2015 and was identified as one of those responsible for the death of Sergeant Marcelo Fukuhara, from the PM of Santos, murdered in 2012.
In November last year, after an operation by the Civil Police and the Navy, Danone managed to escape. A rifle, two pistols and drugs were found in the suspect's home.
The Security Secretariat (SSP) said that the suspect was “leader of a criminal faction” and, in addition to international trafficking, also worked in money laundering and in the criminal court. According to the ministry, COE police officers went to the scene following an anonymous tip and reacted when they were greeted by gunfire. “Forensics have been called and the case will be investigated”, says the note. The report was unable to contact Danone's defense.
According to the SSP, during Operation Summer, an initiative aimed at combating crime and ensuring the safety of the population, 634 criminals were arrested, including 236 wanted by the courts, and 26 people died in clashes with the police. More than 147 kilos of drugs and 72 weapons were seized, including restricted-use rifles.
The operations began after military police officers were killed by suspects in Baixada Santista. The Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) administration transferred the ministry's office to Santos in an attempt to curb the wave of violence. Colonels heard by Estadão are divided over the overt policing strategy to tackle the problem.
Relatives speak of innocents among those killed by the police. “My father wasn’t a drug dealer, but those who live in the favela don’t have a voice,” the daughter of garbage collector José Marcos Nunes da Silva, 45, who died in the shack where he lived in São Vicente, told the reporter. The family says he was a drug user, but was not involved in crime. The SSP claims to be investigating the case.
In Santos, residents report fear and even a desire to move. “I didn’t want to move, but I’m scared,” retired Aluízio Barbosa, 69, who lives in the area where one of the police officers was killed, told the reporter.
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