Hundreds of Police Storm Brazilian Slums

Brazilian troops and police swept through Rio’s most infamous slums in a pre-dawn raid, backed up by helicopters and tanks. The “pacification” mission is intended to bring the crime-ridden favelas to heel before the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

Over 2,000 troops participated in the crack operation in the northern favelas of Jacarezinho and Manguinhos. They began moving through the shanty towns at 5:00 am local time, searching houses and making arrests.

The slums are renowned for the trafficking of crack cocaine and weapons, which police confiscated during the operation. Despite the favelas’ reputations, police said that the raid went without a hitch.

Around 800 officers entered into the favelas flanked by armored vehicles while the rest patrolled the perimeter.

Brazilian policemen deploy by a barrage set ablaze by traffickers, as they deploy to pacify Jacarezinho shantytown, known as “Crackland”, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.(AFP Photo / Christophe Simon)

CORE civilian police tactical unit personnel inspects a homeless man during a deployment to pacify the Manguinhos and Jacarezinho shantytowns, known as “Crackland”, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.(AFP Photo / Christophe Simon)

“The situation is very calm, there have been no incidents,” Colonel Federico Caldas, head of public relations for the military police, to Globo News. “At the moment we are carrying out a meticulous search for drugs and weapons.”

He went onto say that the police will continue to maintain a presence in the area and hope to construct a “pacification unit” in the slums by the end of the year.

The shanty town’s inhabitants watched…….Continued