Brazilian police are investigating the disappearance of five men who were traveling in Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of Saturday in a vehicle requested through a transportation app, including the driver, official sources said Sunday.
The four passengers, aged between 21 and 28, were on their way to a shopping center in the Baixada Fluminense area of Rio de Janeiro when a group of armed hooded men approached them, civil police said.
The homicide squad of the Baixada Fluminense, one of the poorest and most dangerous regions near the capital, took over the case with the intention of “investigating and locating the victims.”
Local media reported that relatives of the missing testified at the police station on Sunday to give their version of what happened.
Rio de Janeiro has suffered high levels of violence for years, fueled by conflicts between drug gangs and vigilante groups fighting for control of various areas of the country’s most touristy city.