Rio Police Hit Comando Vermelho Network in São João de Meriti as Councilor Is Caught in Flagrante

Overview

• Operação Contenção targeted Bacia do Éden, Castelinho and nearby areas after an 11‑month DRE‑CAP probe that sought 16 arrest warrants and 33 search orders with support from CORE and BOPE.
• Eight people were detained by late morning—four by warrant and four in flagrante—and taken to Cidade da Polícia, with seizures reported of two pistols, drugs and boxes of controlled medications.
• Councilor Marcos Henrique Matos de Aquino was arrested in flagrante after police found a .380 pistol not registered in the national system and controlled medicines in a vehicle with official plates.
• Police say the CV‑linked group moved about R$30 million over 11 months by charging residents and merchants and exploiting services in the Baixada, with financial tracing and judicial blocking now planned.
• A warrant target, the councilor’s brother Luiz Paulo Matos de Aquino, was not located during the raids, while the councilor’s defense rejects the arrest as unlawful and politically motivated.