The Red Command funded trips for some of its members to Ukraine to learn military tactics on the war front and then transfer this knowledge to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The strategy is being investigated by the Federal Police, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Rio’s Undersecretary of Intelligence.
According to police, the CV paid for plane tickets for members with clean criminal records to Eastern Europe. Upon their return, they began training traffickers from the Complexo do Alemão and Penha areas in the use of drones, including large agricultural aircraft modified to drop explosives.
💬 “Today, drones aren’t just used by the faction. Any criminal will use them because they offer a strategic advantage: they allow them to have eyes in the sky,” said Marcos Motta, coordinator of COANT, the specialized drone unit of Rio’s Civil Police.
Police intelligence also revealed that entire streets in the Alemão Complex are covered with masonry canopies to prevent aerial surveillance, following the same camouflage pattern documented in actual conflict zones. In 84 days, according to satellite imagery, the complex’s landscape has completely changed.
Rio’s Civil Police plan to meet with Ukrainian authorities in September 2026 to discuss the presence of Brazilian criminals in the war and counter the spread of military tactics among criminal factions.
What is preventing the militarization of Rio de Janeiro’s criminal factions from outpacing the Brazilian state’s capacity to respond?