Police special forces agents take part in an operation in Tabajara Slum in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 15, 2025. Daniel RAMALHO / AFP via Getty Images
RIO DE JANEIRO—Police in Rio de Janeiro freed two hostages including a child during a raid Thursday on a drug trafficking ring that prompted an intense shoot-out in a low-income neighborhood, leaving eight gang members dead, police said.
The operation targeted the criminal organization known as Pure Third Command, including a trafficker nicknamed “the Coronel,” who was accused of murdering a woman in August, Rio’s police said in a statement.
