Brazilian police launch mega-operation in Rio de Janeiro favelas to fight organized crime

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro’s state government has launched a mega-operation with a force that includes nearly 2,000 military and civil officers across 10 low income neighborhoods to regain control of areas dominated by organized crime. The officers deployed Monday in Rio’s western zone, an area that has been the target of intense territorial disputes involving drug traffickers and militias in recent years. The operation also seeks to carry out arrest warrants and has no end date. The spread of organized crime in Rio’s western zone has led to fierce confrontations between law enforcement agencies and different factions of drug-trafficking groups and militias.