Skip to main content

Brazilian police pose for selfies with gang boss accused of drug trafficking, extortion and multiple murders

Officers criticised after posing for photos with Rogerio Avelino da Silva, 35, as they celebrated arrest of one of country's most wanted men
Rogerio Avelino da Silva, also known as Rogerio 157, who is accused by authorities to be the drug dealing chief of Rocinha slum, is escorted by policemen at a police station complex in Rio de Janeiro Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
Police in Brazil are facing an angry backlash after posing for selfies with a gang kingpin accused of extortion, drug-trafficking and multiple murders.
Rogerio Avelino da Silva, also known as Rogerio 157, was arrested on Wednesday in what should have been a victory for detectives grappling with the bloody criminal violence that plagues the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
The 35-year-old is believed to have been partly responsible for a recent wave of deadly crime in Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela, which saw his men fight street gun battles against gangsters loyal to a rival crime lord.
However, the capture of one of Brazil’s most wanted men has now been overshadowed by the emergence of smiling selfies taken by the officers who arrested him.
The images, shared on WhatsApp and other social media, show Mr da Silva handcuffed next to officers with beaming smiles.
In some photos, Mr da Silva himself is seen smiling, while in others he appears stone-faced as the officers laugh
The selfies dominated the headlines in Brazil over the weekend and have since hit the headlines elsewhere in Latin America.
One Brazilian, Tammara Colttro, tweeted: “I’m looking at the newspaper and seeing the absurdity of these cops getting selfies with a thief as if he were a prize.
Another, Zori Mesquita, said: “This is a shameful rampage, taking photos with a bandit as if he were a rock star. Come on!”
Ricardo Capelli, a politician from the Brazilian state of Maranhao, wrote an editorial saying: “Brazil already has the third largest prison population on the planet. It’s irrational to commemorate yet another arrest when we should be asking ourselves why we have so many.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Iran will never have a nuclear weapon’- Trump demands reinstatement of all suspended UN sanctions on Iran

US president Donald Trump, has demanded a reinstatement of all suspended United Nations sanctions on Iran, vowing the Iranian regime "will never have a nuclear weapon."   Trump in 2018 pulled out of the nuclear deal orchestrated by the Obama regime which has Russia, Germany, Iran, UK, France , China and the EU as signatories.   According to Trump, Iran was cheating on the deal and were on their way to making a nuclear bomb. The US' withdrawal from the deal forced other major powers such as China, Russia and the EU to criticize the US administration with Iran announcing that it will stop following the deal if the US permanently withdraws from the deal.     Trump has now revealed that the  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to New York today, Thursday, to discuss with the UN as the US wants all the sanctions against Iran to be reinstated. "It's a snapback," Trump said at a press briefing. "The United States intends to restore all the previously su

Female journalist shot dead while covering a riot in Londonderry, Ireland

A female journalist has been shot dead while covering a riot in Londonderry, Ireland. Lyra McKee, 29, is believed to have been hit by a stray bullet after a gunman opened fire indiscriminately at around 11pm. Shortly before she was killed, Ms McKee, who was covering the riots, had posted an image from the scene of the riots on Twitter. She captioned it: "Derry tonight. Absolute madness." Shocking footage posted to social media shows a gunman in a mask taking cover near the rioters before firing two shots. Seconds later screams are heard coming from the other end of the road. Police revealed this morning that it believes the New IRA was "most likely" behind McKee's killing, calling Ms McKee a "completely innocent bystander. " Assistant chief constable Mark Hamilton described the killing as "not only a murder of a young woman, it is an attack again on the people of this city." Friends who are mourning McKee de

N8.5bn fraud: Witness tells court how former JTF boss, Emmanuel Atewe gave N35m to Winners’ Chapel

                          A witness in the trial of retired  Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Atewe , has told the court how the former military personnel gifted N35m to the  Living Faith Church , popularly known as  Winners’ Chapel .  Atewe who served as the Commander of the military Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, in the  Niger Delta  before his retirement, is standing trial for allegedly diverting N8.5 billion between September 2014 and May 2015. Atewe is standing trial alongside a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi; Kime Engozu, Josephine Otuaga and six companies namely Jagan Ltd; Jagan Trading Company Ltd; Jagan Global Services Ltd; Al-Nald Ltd; Paper Warehouse Ltd; Eastpoint Integrated Services Ltd and De-Newlink Integrated Services Ltd. The trial witness,  Nkem Ahidjo , told the court yesterday that himself and Atewe met in Abuja some years ago where they worshipped at the Aso villa church. He said he