Civil police had to reschedule a huge operation in Benha because the access that agents were to use was blocked off by drug traffickers.

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In one case he recounted, there is information that the criminals, anticipating a possible police attack, built a wall at one of the entrances to the Fazendinha community to prevent agents from entering.

The representative said: “We came up with a plan, and it turned out that the date was postponed several times due to weather problems, and some other reasons made us change, and the movement of the traffickers itself, at the time we found that there was a plan ready to enter through Fazendinha, there in Complexo do Alemão, and the day before the operation, they built a wall.”

• The document reveals: Less than half of key police officers used cameras in a massive operation in Rio

The text of Santana’s statement was sent to the STF yesterday, along with other documents about the MP’s actions involving the massive operation. The submission is consistent with the decision taken by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF – who also requested information from the state government, the Rio Court of Justice and the Public Defender’s Office.

Other information available in the document released by the MPRJ relates to the use of body cameras by police officers. Less than half of the members of the elite military and civilian police units who took part in the massive operation were using the equipment.

In the Special Operations Police Battalion (BOPE), there were 77 pieces of equipment for approximately 215 soldiers. In the case of coordinating private (core) resources, 128 agents went to the slums, but only 57 used the equipment. By order of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), all police officers in Rio must wear cameras on their uniforms during operations.

In the case of Core, delegate Fabricio Oliveira, responsible for coordination, explains that there were 100 cameras available to the team – which may already be insufficient given the number of police officers called – but there was a problem in releasing the equipment, using the individual access key for each client.