Red Command seeks to control Rio's maritime routes to export drugs to Europe and Africa
The CV expands territory in Rio with an eye on ports and corridors for international trafficking. Arrests fill prisons with powerful criminals, warns delegate.
Red Command advances on Rio's ports to expand international drug trafficking
Brazil's largest criminal faction, the Red Command (CV), is waging at least four simultaneous confrontations in Rio de Janeiro whilst pursuing a plan that goes beyond controlling neighbourhoods and favelas: the group wants to dominate passage corridors leading to Rio's Ports, Itaguaí Port and Guanabara Bay, to export drugs destined for Europe and Africa. This is revealed by mapping of the faction's expansion attempts, reported by cnnportugal.iol.pt based on police investigations.
According to Paulo Saback, delegate of the Narcotics Repression Unit (DRE), the CV's strategic objective is clear: to create parallel maritime routes that would increase international trafficking. "If they advance in these areas, they will have more profitability. From the moment they occupy this territory, it would become a passage for weapons and drugs," Saback explained. "The CV's expansion project is much larger than simple territorial dominance. It is also control and hegemony of the routes — including maritime expansion."
The delegate added that, from Itaguaí Port and Guanabara Bay, the faction could also access the Salgueiro Complex in São Gonçalo, where the CV is already present, and from there reach Niterói, the Mountainous Region and the north of the state. "Their objective is also control of routes. Even to enable an increase in international trafficking, sending drugs to Europe and Africa, where monetisation is much higher," said Saback.
Four active combat fronts in the city
The confrontations are occurring simultaneously in distinct areas of the city. In the Southwest Zone, the CV disputes areas in Rio das Pedras and in the favelas of the Vargens and Recreio. In the North Zone, the conflict centres on Cordovil. In the West Zone, the clash extends between Campo Grande and Guaratiba.
On 27 July, 11 armed criminals carrying rifles and dressed in camouflage clothing invaded a wooded area between Campo Grande and Guaratiba in an attempt to reach a community controlled by the militia. The incursion was recorded by security cameras. In Santa Cruz, the CV has not yet succeeded in penetrating any community controlled by militiamen.
In the Itanhangá region, the CV dominates all favelas except Rio das Pedras. In Cordovil, the favelas Tintas and Dourados have been targets of attacks commanded by Álvaro Malaquias Santa Rosa, known as Peixão, one of the leaders of the Third Pure Command (TCP), which controls the so-called Israel Complex — a grouping of favelas that includes Parada de Lucas, Vigário Geral, Pica-Pau, Cidade Alta and Cinco Bocas.
"Doca", the leader with 45 arrest warrants
Edgar Alves de Andrade, known as Doca or Urso, is identified by police as the main person responsible for ordering the invasions aimed at CV expansion. A member of the faction's leadership, Doca has accumulated 45 arrest warrants issued by the Court of Justice, according to data from the National Council of Justice.
The CV's territorial hegemony already encompasses approximately 60 per cent of Rio's communities, according to the authorities. For police, if dominance is extended, the faction could significantly increase its economic capacity — through the collection of fees and the exploitation of services — and strengthen operations for sending drugs abroad.
Arsenal and faction financing
Weapons reach Rio via three routes. The main one, known as the Northern Route or Trans-Amazonian, originates from areas near Venezuela, crosses the Amazon along the Negro and Solimões rivers and through Pará, until reaching the Centre-West and then the Southeast of the country.
The scale of the arsenal in use in the confrontations has no official estimate, but partial figures are significant. Only in the Rocinha, during an operation carried out in June 2025 by the Ceará Public Ministry together with state police, 400 armed men carrying rifles were filmed by a drone fleeing a siege through a wooded area. Also in 2025, more than 90 rifles were seized in the Penha and Alemão Complexes following an operation that resulted in 122 deaths — 117 suspects and five police officers.
To finance the purchase of weapons and ammunition, the faction resorts to robberies, extortion and the clandestine sale of cable television and internet signals. In March this year, an investigation by the Narcotics Repression Unit for Organised Criminal Actions and Special Inquiries (Draco-IE) dismantled a scheme of bank fraud and money laundering with suspected links to the CV, which moved 136 million reais in a single year.
Cryptocurrencies in service of organised crime
The authorities confirm that the CV laundered money of criminal origin through crypto-assets. In response, police announced in June the creation of the Support Nucleus for Investigations with Virtual Assets (NuCripto), designed to assist delegacies investigating illicit financial movements by organised crime organisations. The creation of the unit followed the identification of clandestine cryptocurrency mining farms. One of these installations was discovered by police on 22 May, in the Lins Complex.
The picture drawn by investigations reveals an organisation that combines territorial violence with financial sophistication — and which looks increasingly beyond Brazil's borders.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)