Hundreds of sailors moved into a Rio shantytown on Sunday, joining the army in a surprise weekend crackdown aimed at the 1,800 drug lords who reign over the city's hillside slums.
More than 600 members of the Brazilian navy stepped up operations early Sunday near Rio's international airport at the Dende slum, believed to hold the largest stockpile of drug lords' weapons.The huge operation - which includes federal police, tanks, jeeps, helicopters and 2,000 soldiers - has occupied seven shantytowns, several of them bordering the fashionable Copacabana and Ipanema beachfront neighborhoods.
President Itamar Franco put the army in charge of Operation Rio three weeks ago after spiralling crime and spreading drug-related violence prompted a public outcry.
In the first sign of resistance to the invasion, an army recruit was grazed by a bullet Saturday.
Police say about 20 people are killed every day in urban violence in this city of 6 million people, but morgue officials say the rate is twice that high.
A raid Saturday on the Mangueira slum, well known for its carnival champion Samba school, ended with 105 people detained for not carrying identification. The traditional Saturday night Samba school rehearsal was canceled.
Unspecified quantities of cocaine, syringes, numbers racket material, and stolen sound equipment were seized.
"We're occupying the slums until they're free of crime," said Col. Ivan Cardozo, an Army spokesman.