World Cup 2014: Brazilian Police Raid Slum To Secure Stadium (PHOTOS)

PHOTOS: Brazilian Police Raid Slum To Secure World Cup Stadium

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Brazilian police are raiding another slum dominated by drug trafficking gangs in an ongoing program to bring peace to areas near Maracana stadium ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Photographers and cameramen from The Associated Press on the scene have seen hundreds of police officers and troops invading the Mangueira shantytown, backed by helicopters and several armored vehicles.

Rio state public security director Jose Beltrame said in a televised news conference that police have taken control of the slum without exchange of gunfire.

Seventeen other shantytowns have already been pacified by security forces taking over the city's poor communities.

Maracana will host the World Cup final and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

Brazil Rio Violence

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