Brazil police nab Rio's most-wanted trafficker

[November 10, 2011]  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Police in Rio de Janeiro say they've captured the city's most-wanted drug gang leader.

The arrest of Antonio Bonfim Lopes is a serious blow to the Friends of Friends drug gang.

The gang controls the massive Rocinha slum in Rio de Janeiro.

It's Brazil's largest and one of the biggest in Latin America. About 100,000 people live there.

It's also the center of Rio's drug trade. Police say it's the main distribution point for drugs in the city.

Police say they arrested Lopes early Thursday. He was found in the trunk of a car as he tried to flee the slum.

Police are expected to invade Rocinha this weekend.

It's part of a so-called pacification program to make the city safer ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

[Associated Press]

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