Brazil Drug Gang Attacks Police Station in Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Just north of Rio de Janeiro’s famous Maracanã stadium, criminals launched an attack onto a police station, opening fire with automatic guns and grenades.

The Wednesday morning attack took place in the impoverished neighborhood of Mangueira. No police were injured, but a high ranking member of the local drug gang was killed in the shooting.

During the attack on the police precinct, several vehicles belonging to residents were left with bullet holes. Authorities found an unexploded grenade in the house of a woman living nearby.

Following the attack, police launched a large scale operation in the community. Several different police units swept Mangueira searching for drugs and weapons. Shooting between police and gang members was frequent enough that authorities closed Visconde de Niteroi, a major road that runs in front of Mangueira.

Several criminals tried to escape the cordon surrounding the community, including a seventeen-year-old male whom the police apprehended in possession of a pistol, ammunition, and R$,4000 (US$1,000) in crack cocaine.

Mangueira is located just next to the Maracanã stadium, which played host to the World Cup and the Olympics. The poverty in the community often stood in sore juxtaposition to the extravagance of those major sporting events.

Residents said that schools and vital services were suspended during the operations and that it was locals who ended up suffering when the conflict between police and drug gangs occurred.