Police helicopter crashed Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, according to local media, killing four policemen, a day after the intense battles that took place with exchange of fire between police forces and alleged members of criminal organisations, in the slum known as the City of God.
The police did not confirm directly the incident and it was not clear if the helicopter was shot down by enemy fire or crashed due to any other cause.
Crime and violence finds it again in an increase in the city in the months after the holding of the city of the Olympic Games. The economic recession, the increase of the rates of unemployment and the public finances, which have reached the limits have emboldened criminal groups in areas such as the City of God, one of the most well-known slums of the city.
Recent years, the police managed to evict drug traffickers and other gangs from several slums. But the crime levels are increasing, as well as the federal government, which bears responsibility for the security in an area with a population of over 16 million people, is faced with a budget deficit expected to amount to 20 billion reais (5,91 billion dollars).
According to the data of the federal authorities, the murder rate in Rio during September increased by approximately 18% compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, with 3.649 recorded murders. The crimes on the streets of the city, such as thefts of public transport skyrocketed by 44%, with approximately 92.000 recorded incidents.
Although the crime in Rio remains at much lower levels than in the period of exacerbation of in the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, the recent conflicts with exchange of fire and the crash of the helicopter recalled periods of escalation of fighting in the city.
In 2009, drug traffickers had shot down a helicopter, killing two crew members, as well as the police carry out operations for “appeasement” of the situation in the favelas with a view of the Olympic Αγώγων and the Football World Cup 2014, games of the football tournament were held in the city.
Helicopter crash police in Brazil after fire, members of a criminal organisation
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