Police take over from military at Rio slum near airport

April 02, 2015 | 10:24

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Brazilian soldiers began to withdraw from a sprawling Rio slum on Wednesday, a year after being deployed to help clean up the neighborhood ahead of the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

In anti-crime raids, police commandos patrol the Praia da Ramos and Roquette Pinto communities, part of the Mare Complex shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AFP/CHRISTOPHE SIMON)

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian soldiers began to withdraw from a sprawling Rio slum on Wednesday (Apr 1), a year after being deployed to help clean up the neighborhood ahead of the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

An estimated 3,000 soldiers were initially sent into Mare, a group of 16 slums known as favelas near to Rio's international airport and home to some 140,000 people.

The military operation was part of a strategy rolled out across the city by the state security secretariat to ramp up security in an area prone to gang warfare and drug trafficking. The soldiers were being pulled out on Wednesday with responsibility for law and order being handed to military police.

"We started with the Praia de Ramos and Roquette Pinto favelas which are the quietest," military police colonelFrederico Caldas told AFP following Wednesday's early morning operation as troops began a phased withdrawal which will wrap up in June.

By June, four so-called Police Pacification Units (UPPs) will be established in Mare comprising 1,620 police officers, "a figure which could change as needs dictate," Colonel Caldas said.

After winning the right to stage two showpiece international sports events the city governement in 2008 launched a coordinated attempt to try to "pacify" favelas in thrall to drug traffickers for decades. By last year they had stationed some 10,000 police at 38 UPPs set up in 264 favelas home to around 1.5 million people.

AFP

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