RIO DE JANEIRO: Police have arrested a suspected drug kingpin blamed for the downing of a police helicopter in Rio de Janeiro in 2009 in a battle for control of the city's slums, Brazilian press reports said Saturday.
Fabiano Atanazio da Silva, alias "FB," was arrested in the town of Campos in neighboring Sao Paulo state on Friday night, the reports said.
Da Silva is alleged to be one of the leaders of a drug trafficking network that controlled the Complexo de Alemao favela in Rio until a major sweep by security forces in November 2010 "pacified" the area.
Da Silva also was wanted for the downing of a police helicopter in October 2009, during a police assault on the drug trafficking bastion of Morro dos Macacos that left 17 people dead.
Rio, one of Brazil's most violent states, has been in a race against the clock since 2008 to uproot drug gangs from the city's poor neighborhoods before the 2014 World Cup and the Olympic Games in 2016.
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