Pubdate: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 Source: Associated Press (Wire) Copyright: 2001 Associated Press BRAZILIAN POLICE MAKE DRUG RAID RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Thousands of police swarmed into slums across Rio de Janeiro state Friday, cracking down on the drug trade in the largely lawless zones, officials said. The operation came after violence between rival factions in the drug trade left 17 people dead last weekend, but police denied the operation was motivated by that fighting. A police spokeswoman said the operation, ordered by state police chief Col. Wilton Ribeiro, would continue indefinitely in the slums, known as favelas. A few hours into the crackdown, police had arrested five people and confiscated three guns, 10 small bags of marijuana and 70 packets of cocaine. They did not give weights for the drugs. Television footage showed police cars wending their way up narrow alleys past the ramshackle, exposed brick shacks that line most of the hillsides in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Police said 3,000 officers were entering 283 slums. Brazil's largest television station, Globo, has used hidden cameras for a series reports in recent weeks portraying brazenly open drug trade in the slums. Though Brazil is not considered a major producer of cocaine, it has been a major transshipment point for the drug in smuggling operations to Africa and Europe. Government officials have vigorously denied reports suggesting Brazil has become world's second-largest consumer of cocaine after the United States. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth