12-year-old ran drug operation as Rio de Janeiro police raid home

12-year-old ran drug operation as Rio de Janeiro police raid home
A 12-year-old apparently didn't wait too long to follow in the footsteps of his parents and allegedly take over the family drug trade business while they were looked up behind bars in Brazil.Show more

Military police agents took the boy into custody after raiding their downtown Rio de Janeiro home Wednesday.
Footage released by 5th precinct showed a police officer sitting inside a makeshift closet built under the ceiling of the home and dropping multiple plastic bags filled with narcotics.
The boy was transferred to the custody of Police Station for the Protection of Children and Adolescents.

It's unknown how long the child's parents have been in jail for.

The shocking arrest took a day after the network revealed video footage showing how drug dealing rings are employing children as young as five years old to handle narcotic sales in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Bairro de Fátima.
According to a resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity, drug pushers kicked out tenants out of a building and used the property to run their operation.

'They sell drugs, they use children to deliver drugs to addicts," the resident said. 'Minors, five, six, ten, twelve years old. They don't even care that they are children.'

The astonishing video shows a shirtless boy holding a plastic bag that apparently contains a stash of drugs and standing alongside a bevy of young males outside the drug house.

Footage also shows another male, most likely in his teens, smoking a cigarette and handling various drug transactions.

'Residents have seen drug dealers several times arguing and fighting in the middle of the street,' a witness said. 'They are constantly armed, defying the police, defying residents, threatening residents. They have no shame.'

DailyMail.com reached out to the Rio de Janeiro military police for comment.