Security officials said the giant Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro was back under control Saturday after hundreds of soldiers and police were sent to battle heavily armed drug traffickers. Five suspected gang members were arrested overnight, while a gang leader in another favela was arrested, along with a haul of semi-automatic rifles, police said. Although shooting was reported in the early hours of Saturday in Rocinha - for the seventh day running -officials said that Friday's deployment of 950 soldiers to reinforce police had brought the crisis under control. "There's a stability that is being maintained," Rio de Janeiro state security chief Roberto Sa told a press conference.

Source: AFP