At least 15 people were killed and eight
others were injured in a massacre presumably perpetrated by drug traffickers in
the southern Brazilian town of Guaira on the border with Paraguay, Brazilian media reported Tuesday.
The killings were apparently a vendetta between rival gangs of smugglers of
drugs and weapons, the police told Brazilian media.
The massacre in the state of Parana took place late Monday when an armed group
of Brazilians arrived in town from the river that constitutes the border
between Paraguay and Brazil, and then left for Paraguay by boat, according to
Brazilian authorities.
A drug boss known as "Polaco" was apparently among the dead, along
with two women and several boys, dpa reported.
Parana Public Safety secretary Luiz Fernando Delazari said late Monday that
state authorities had formally requested the cooperation of Paraguayan
authorities in order to find the killers.
He said at least five people took part in the massacre, according to a
preliminary investigation, and most of the victims were involved in drug
trafficking.
Eye witnesses and survivors told the authorities that the attackers arrived in
the favela (slum) of Villa Santa Clara by boat, looking for "Polaco,"
who apparently owed drug traffickers in the region some 2,000 dollars.
"At one of the shacks, they found 'Polaco' and two women, who were
murdered. Then they forced 'Polaco' to call his accomplices and ask them to
meet near his home. As they arrived, they were caught by the killers, and they
were all murdered," Delazari said.
The official noted that the injured only survived because the killers assumed
they were dead.
Delazari said the attackers had all been identified, although he could not
disclose their names, and were all Brazilian drug traffickers.
Guaira is on a new route for smugglers of cigarettes, drugs, weapons and
electronic goods, the authorities said.
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