Brazil busts gang of cops, councillors

Brazil busts gang of cops, councillors: "Brazilian police have busted a feared criminal gang that killed at least 50 people and counted more than a dozen officers and some municipal councillors in its ranks, officials said yesterday.

Twenty-five members of the 34-strong gang were arrested Tuesday on warrants based on wiretaps that found the organization sold weapons to drug dealers in a nest of Rio slums that was cleared by police and soldiers last month.

The two local councillors of the Duque de Caxias neighbourhood were suspected of running the para-police outfit, while the 13 policemen arrested were part of its 'muscle' thought to have carried out hits.

The gang was one of several including police officers that operate in Rio's notoriously violent and lawless slums. They started activities in late 2006 as militias that forced out local gangs and took over to run extortion rackets."

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