6 April 2011
RIO DE JANEIRO - Police in Brazil captured two alligator-like caimans used by drug traffickers to intimidate residents of a Rio favela, local television reported Wednesday.
Police said the reptiles seized in the Manguinhos favela were kept on the terrace of a private home, the Globo television station wrote on its website.
Authorities said the animals had been raised in captivity by traffickers who used them to terrorize residents of the impoverished neighborhood, as well as to scare away rival drug dealers.
Officials, who said they were led to the reptiles by an anonymous tip, said they had been hearing for some time about alligators in the Rio slum, but had been skeptical until now.
"We used to think that those stories about caimans owned by drug traffickers were fairy tales, but now we have the proof," police commissioner Ronaldo Oliveira told reporters at a press briefing.
The imposing-looking caiman is related to and resembles the American Alligator and the Freshwater Crocodiles and generally grows to about six feet (two meters) in length as an adult.
Officials said the confiscated reptiles would be given a new home at the local zoo.
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