Image shows Brazil police at work.
Latest reports from Brazil confirm two persons have been shot dead– one mugger was killed near the Rio Olympic stadium where the opening ceremony was held while another woman was also killed very close to one of the Olympic sites. The events occurred early Sunday morning.
Security of visitors, contestants and even citizens remain a big challenge for the police.
A total of 85,000 soldiers have been deployed to enforce strict obedience to the laws of the country.
Rio police said in a statement that a man was mugging people near the Maracana stadium when he was intercepted by one of the police officers sent from another area of Brazil to Rio as part of the huge reinforcements.
“The man was carrying out assaults when a military police officer… shot him,” the statement said.
Image shows Rio police at work.
A few hours before the death near the Maracana stadium, reports say an architect was killed while driving by one of the main entrances to the Olympic Boulevard.
The deceased [a 51-year-old woman] was sorrounded by a group of three armed muggers but she tried fleeing the scene before they shot her in the head.
Though the security arm of the country is said to have deployed a double number of troops and police [compared to the total used at the 2012 London Games] security and drug trafficking control remains a big challenge.
Reports confirm there’s high-level threat alerts in most parts of the country where football matches are scheduled–Horizonte, Manaus, Salvador, Belo, Sau Paulo–including the main city, Rio.
Image: File Photo
The shootings come as the Brazilian bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion on a suspect package near the finish line of the Olympic men’s cycling road race, AP reports.
According to the report, “a loud bang was heard on the BBC’s coverage of the road race, with the commentators falling silent for a number of seconds before confirming that the noise had come from near the finish line.
“A number of journalists in Rio took to Twitter to confirm that the bang was caused by a controlled explosion carried out by the anti-bomb team, with the riders over 70km away.
“Bomb squad agents in protective clothing were operating near the press tribune at the site but the cause of the blast was not immediately clear.”
The object that caused panic looked like a homeless man’s back pack, but according to police protocols, it was blown up for security reasons.
There weren’t any signs of injuries to anyone. The race continued afterwards.
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