BRASÍLIA, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seven people were killed and two arrested Wednesday in a large police operation in northeastern Brazil aimed at dismantling a criminal gang, authorities said.
Police said around 100 officers were involved in the operation in the town of Cristinapolis, in the state of Sergipe.
The seven killed were “suspects with links to a criminal faction” involved in drug trafficking, robberies and homicides, police said in a statement.
Officers also carried out 23 search and seizure warrants, including in a prison.
Police said the operation was launched after an anonymous tip that a prison inmate was the leader of the criminal gang, which has been fighting a bloody turf war with a rival drug gang.
Sergipe, Brazil’s smallest state, is home to 2.2 million people. Cristinapolis, population 17,000, is about 120 kilometers from the state capital, Aracaju.
The state borders Bahia, which has been hit by a wave of violent crime and registered the most deaths in police operations of any state in Brazil last year: 1,464.
Police in Brazil often face accusations from human rights groups of using excessive force, particularly in poor black communities. — NNN-AGENCIES
