Brazil’s military police kill leader of a drug trafficking group in a Rio favela

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian military police on Tuesday killed the main leader of a drug trafficking group in a Rio de Janeiro favela as well as two other suspected criminals, authorities said.

A fierce shootout broke out after Rio’s military police found Thiago da Silva Folly in a bunker in the Mare complex of low-income neighborhoods, police said. Folly was killed, while another two were wounded and taken to a hospital, but later died from their injuries.

Folly was the main leader of the Pure Third Command faction in Mare, police said.

“The objective was to arrest the leader of the faction, but he chose to engage in confrontation,” Gov. Cláudio Castro was quoted as saying in the statement. “Once again, we demonstrate that there will be no truce for these extremely violent criminals.”

Police said Folly had 227 criminal charges against him and 17 outstanding arrest warrants. One of the warrants was related to the killing of two military police officers during an operation in Mare in June.

Folly was also under investigation for his involvement in the death of a soldier in 2014 and for attacks on members of the National Public Security Force in 2016, police added. The organ also said he also coordinated paramilitary training within the community.

The operation, launched early Tuesday, shut down main roads and rerouted bus lines. Local news outlet G1 reported that at least two schools were closed.

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