Nine men died on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 15) during a Military Police operation in Cajazeiras, on the outskirts of Salvador, the capital of Bahia. According to the force, the operation targeted organized crime and the dead are suspected members of the Bonde do Maluco (BDM) criminal faction. Their names had not been released as of publication.
The police account
In a statement, the Military Police, the uniformed state force that patrols Brazilian streets, said officers of its Mobile Tactical Patrol Battalion (BPATAMO) were carrying out patrols between the Cajazeiras V and Cajazeiras XI neighborhoods when they came across armed men who fired at them and fled into a wooded area. According to the Bahia Public Security Secretariat (SSP-BA), a confrontation broke out as officers tried to arrest members of a criminal faction, and some suspects were wounded. All nine were taken to Hospital Eládio Lasserre, in Cajazeiras II, but did not survive their injuries. The force said no officer was hurt and that one man was arrested.
According to g1 and Folha de S.Paulo, officers seized 11 firearms: four rifles, five pistols, a 9 mm carbine and an automatic 12-gauge shotgun. Correio reported the same total with a different breakdown: four rifles, five pistols and two carbines. Police also collected magazines, ammunition, quantities of drugs and mobile phones, as well as a ballistic vest plate that, according to the SSP-BA, may have been diverted from the Brazilian Army.
Investigation
The sequence that led to the operation began about a month ago, when, according to Folha, the group allegedly carried out armed attacks against rivals in the area. A prior police inquiry mapped social media images in which the suspects displayed weapons and faction insignia. The exchange of gunfire took place in the wooded area and was heard in different parts of the neighborhood. The force said "patrolling remains reinforced in the region".
The arrested man and the seized material were presented at the Homicide and Person Protection Division (DHPP), in the Itapuã neighborhood, where the case will be investigated. The Military Police said the circumstances of the deaths and the conduct of the officers involved will go through the applicable legal procedures, "in observance of the duties of the competent authorities". The alleged faction ties are a police claim still under investigation, with no court ruling.