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Explosions seen across Rio as largest-ever police drugs raid leaves 64 dead

01:17

Explosions seen across Rio as largest-ever police drugs raid leaves 64 dead

At least 60 people are dead after about 2,500 Brazilian police and soldiers launched a massive raid on the drug-trafficking gang the Red Command – one of Brazil's most powerful criminal organisations – while 81 suspects were arrested.

Footage from the operation on Tuesday (28 October) shows suspects being bundled into police vans, scores of seized guns, and plumes of dark smoke rising into the sky across Rio de Janeiro, as explosions echo in the background.

Claudio Castro, the conservative governor of Rio state, said that the operation was the largest in the city's history and had followed a year of investigation into the criminal group.

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