Japanese Delegation Gets Lost and Runs Into Armed Men in a Favela

06/22/2012 - 10h28

Two cars from the Japanese delegation were going to visit Cedae (Water and Sewage Company), when they got lost and ended up in a poor community known as the favela of Caju in the port area of Rio de Janeiro. People in the Japanese vehicles shot at armed men. The drug traffickers did not shoot at the group.

According to the police of 4º BPM (São Cristóvão), around 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 21, the unit received information that the Japanese had been kidnapped by drug traffickers.

When they arrived at the favela, the military police discovered that when the occupants of the first vehicle left the area, they thought that their colleagues had been taken captive by armed men. They all left the area without suffering any kind of injury.

Even though they were not heads of state, the delegation could have asked for an escort for the visit to Cedae. This is the second time at Rio+20 that security forces have been surprised by a delegation that has gone out in the city without any kind of communication.

Na semana passada, um grupo de alemães foi até o morro da Mangueira sem qualquer comunicado ao Exército ou à Polícia Federal. Quando a equipe de segurança tomou conhecimento da localização dos alemães, eles já visitavam a comunidade. No local há uma UPP (Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora).

Last week, a group of Germans went up to the poor community on the hill of Mangueira without telling the army or the federal police. When the security team found out where the Germans were, they had already been to the community. There is a UPP (Pacifying Police Unit) present in this community.

Translated by ANNA EDGERTON