Terror in Rio de Janeiro

The images of the flight of traffickers in Vila Cruzeiro toward the German Complex are rich in information to the police. Who can guarantee is the retired captain of BOPE Paul Storani, security consultant today. How does the police, the festival of bandits in the forest shows they were right - and perhaps underestimated - the assumptions of many men and weapons in the hands of bandits in that area of town.

What we saw on TV, thanks to sophisticated cameras of the helicopter's TV Globo, gives an idea of the scenery that awaits the German police. "Historically, German, and largest, has always had twice the number of traffickers in Vila Cruzeiro. If today we are witnessing the flight of some 300 men of the Cross, we can assume that there are at least 900 bandits entrenched in German at the moment, "he says Storani, which, like 'skull' - the name of BOPE policemen - have learned to know and respect the geography and the firepower of the two slums.

"One feature of German is a lot of access roads. The police will need a very large effective trap criminals to get at that place, "he warns. The strategy of the bandits, who also face problems with this diversity of options for access must be to block streets, create traps for the armored vehicles and armed men concentrated in a few strategic points.

Rifles - Storani uses his experience in the Police Special Operations Battalion to estimate also the weapons in the hands of traffickers. "For images of the Globe, we saw that the proportion is nearly one gun per man. If we have nearly a thousand men concentrated in the slum, and considering that 80% to 90% of them have guns, is an arsenal like never faced the police, "says the cop, which provides a comparison difficult for the police:" The people can prepare to attend one of the toughest fighting in the history of Rio "

The possibility of an incursion between tonight and dawn on Friday is remote. Acting in alleys, in areas full of houses with poor lighting, would be exposed to excessive risk officers, and especially the residents.

Permanent occupation - Police have not officially announced the creation of a UPP in Penha, but the occupation of the Vila Cruzeiro - announced by the Civil Police in the early evening today - will become permanent. "Back at this point would be to lose an entire work and the possibility open for a return of the traffickers," said Storani.

The German Complex lived four years ago, one of the bloodiest battles in the history of combating trafficking. Earlier the government Cabral, an action of the Civil Police, with 300 men, ended with a balance of 19 official deaths - more deaths with suspected without official registration. The slum is also one of the poorest areas and abandoned the city.