Army 'Smothers' Violent Areas to Prepare Intervention in Rio

02/21/2018 - 12h07

The army has mobilized 3,000 of its men, with the support of 1,000 civil and military police officers, to surround regions under dispute by criminal factions and subject to high rates of violence in Rio, as a strategy to "smother" criminals and prepare a federal intervention in the State.

The operation between Monday (19) and Tuesday (20) was the first after the decree issued by president Michel Temer (MDB) granting public security powers to an Armed Forces general.

With tanks and armored vehicles, the action has reached communities of the capital and metropolitan area, and it included checkpoints and searches, applicable to pedestrians and vehicles, to map areas and inhibit criminals in order to prepare for phase two, which shall occur with the official intervention after Congress approval.

The siege also intended to tire out criminals who are on the run and prevent criminal activity.

By Tuesday evening, 11 suspects had been arrested (caught red-handed or based on warrants) and authorities had seized five pistols, six grenades, 11 radio transmitters and one revolver, in addition to drugs, ammunition and stolen vehicles.

Special forces of the military and civil police of Rio, such as Bope (Special Police Operations Battalion) and Core (Coordination of Special Resources), will enter the communities in the next stage of the joint military action.

Translated by ANA BEATRIZ DEMARIA

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	Pilar Olivares/Reuters
	Members of the armed forces patrol the Kelson's slum during an operation against crime in Rio de Janeiro