Sao Paulo, Brazil (CNN) -- Rio de
Janeiro's special police forces declared Sunday that they were in full control
of one of the city's biggest and most notorious shantytowns, Rocinha, after a
predawn operation aimed at wresting control from drug traffickers.
The operation, involving 3,000 police
and security forces, had successfully occupied Rocinha and neighboring slums
Vidigal and Chacara do Ceu, the Rio de Janeiro government said on its website.
"The next stage will be looking
for the criminals that were able to get out of the places we are working,"
military police Col. Alberto Pinheiro Neto told reporters Sunday morning.
About 100,000 people live in Rocinha.
Brazilian troops take over Rio slum
Some 200 navy commandos with armored
personnel carriers and helicopters also participated in the operation. Roads
were blocked at 2:30 a.m. and troops started moving in around 4 a.m., according
to the local government.
CNN affiliate Band News TV showed military
assault vehicles rolling in and heavily armed police patrolling the streets.
The massive operation is part of
Rio's efforts to eliminate crime and arrest drug traffickers in one of the
country¹s most violent cities ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
Rio de Janeiro Gov. Sergio Cabral
said the so-called "Shock of Peace" operation was a "historic
chapter."
"We are rescuing communities
that were abandoned for decades and dominated by parallel powers," he told
reporters. "These are people who need to be able to raise their children
in peace."
Residents told Band News TV that they
were happy that police had stepped up their presence.
The operation will have an impact
beyond Rocinha, which supplies 80% of the drugs in Rio de Janeiro,
Congresswoman Marina Magessi told Band News TV.
"We are certain that from now
until the end of the year, there will be a shortage of drugs present in
Rio," said Magessi, a former police inspector responsible for catching
some of Rio's top criminals.
Police have already
"pacified" dozens of favelas since they began operations in 2008, but
it's an uphill battle. About one-fifth of Rio¹s residents live in the city's
1,000 shantytowns, many of them perched on steep hills overlooking beachside
condominiums.
Sunday's operation stands in stark contrast
to the invasion of the Alemao favela last year when more than 30 people were
killed in shootouts.
Police arrested Rocinha's top
suspected drug trafficker days before they moved in. They found Antonio
Francisco Bomfim, known as Nem, in the trunk of a car.
On Sunday, police reported capturing
a handful of automatic guns and other weapons. They also found the steep and
winding roads leading into Rocinha covered with oil, apparently an attempt to
make it more difficult for police to enter.
From Shasta Darlington, CNN
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