Brazil began deploying about 30,000 troops on Saturday to secure its borders as it prepares to host the soccer World Cup, which is scheduled to begin next month.
The operation involving the army, navy and air force is to extend over the 16,900km frontier separating the South American giant from the 10 nations it borders.
The internationally coordinated effort is part of a strategic border security plan that was announced by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in June 2011.
“It is the single largest mobilization carried out by the state to combat illegal activity from the north to the south of the country,” the Brazilian government said in a statement.
A similar security operation took place ahead of last year’s Confederations Cup, widely regarded as a test run for the World Cup extravaganza, which is to see soccer matches held in 12 cities.
That two-week operation saw the confiscation of nearly 19 tonnes of drugs, as well as caches of weapons and explosive devices.
The latest operation is to target crimes including drug and arms trafficking, as well as illegal immigration.
It is also to provide medical care for communities that are in need.
The operation is to span 710 cities and cover a distance of 110km from the borders, where security will be stepped up at crossings.
Rivers and lakes are also to be patrolled.
Globo television showed images of authorities inspecting vehicles, including trucks and passenger buses.
Along Brazil’s border with Argentina, the troop deployment began at midnight, with checkpoints set up near the Uruguaiana International Bridge, which links the two countries over the Uruguay River.
The Brazilian Ministry of Defense has not specified how long the operation will continue for citing strategic reasons, with a spokesman telling reporters that the military did not want to “give advance warning to criminals.”
Officials declined to confirm reports that a similar security operation could be carried out once the FIFA tournament gets under way. The first match is to be played on June 12, with the final on July 13.
Brazil expects to welcome more than 600,000 foreign tourists for the massive sporting event and is anticipating the internal displacement of more than 3 million locals.
Brazil shares borders with Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. More than half the length of the borders runs through rivers, lakes and other waterways.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
RSS