Operation Containment
| Operation Containment | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the armed conflict for control of the favelas | |||||
Police officers during the operation. | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
| Comando Vermelho | |||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Cláudio Castro | Edgard Alves de Andrade | ||||
| Strength | |||||
|
2,500 police officers 32 armored vehicles | Hundreds of suspects | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
|
5 police officers killed (2 BOPE and 3 CORE) 13 police officers injured (9 Military and 4 Civil), 2 in serious condition |
Per police: 117 killed 133 arrested 118 weapons apprehended Per public defender: 128 killed | ||||
| Several wounded, at least 4 hit by stray bullets | |||||
Operation Containment (Portuguese: Operação Contenção) was a large-scale law-enforcement operation launched on 28 October 2025 by the Rio de Janeiro state government against the Comando Vermelho (CV) criminal organization. Approximately 2,500 police agents participated and executed hundreds of police warrants to arrest gang leaders in 26 communities in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, mainly in the Penha and Alemão neighborhoods.
Launched just before dawn, intense confrontations occurred all day. Gangs set barricades ablaze and used drone-dropped bombs on special forces teams. The operation seized 93 rifles, killed 122 people, and resulted in 133 arrests, according to police. State governor Cláudio Castro stated the casualties were criminals and called the operation "a success"; a small number of local residents as well as national and international civil society groups criticized the lethality of police conduct and questioned official claims that all the dead were criminals.
The operation was the deadliest police action in the state's history in a favela, surpassing the 2021 Jacarezinho shootout that killed 28 people, and was also, overall, the deadliest in Brazilian history, exceeding the Carandiru massacre, where 111 inmates were killed in a prison riot in 1992.
According to Reuters, of the people killed and arrested, "the complaint providing the basis for the raid" only named 5 arrested and no one that was killed.