RIO DE JANEIRO, July 13 (UPI) -- Increasing numbers of unmanned aircraft will take to the skies over Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru in a combined operation aimed at beating drug traffickers and smugglers of arms, humans and contraband.
The operation is spearheaded by Brazil and follows agreements with its neighbors to allow the Brazilian drones to enter their air space and monitor suspect terrain, some of it cloaked by Amazonian forest and other tracts populated as slums and therefore protected against any radical airborne operations.
Brazil has frequently voiced concerns about the security threat posed by arms and drug smugglers and its potential to turn hundreds of impoverished citizens into members of criminal gangs.
The economic prosperity of Brazil has also raised the imperative to check immigration from poorer neighbors.
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The operation will start in August with the deployment of four remotely controlled Brazilian unmanned aircraft that will scour the Bolebra region, shared by Brazil, Bolivia and Peru and other border regions shared by Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.
Security forces and border polices of all four countries have struggled to contain criminal gangs in the area.
Resourceful drug gangs have used the territory to launch contraband flights to North America by microlight or small aircraft, in some cases from speedily improvised air strips.
The drone operation was backed up the neighboring governments with the hope it will provide security agents with more precise data on criminal activities.
The drones are also intended to provide the participating countries with more detailed information on the criminal gangs' airborne activities, including microlight aircraft involved in drug crimes and other smuggling activities, officials said.
Brazil has also expanded its naval operations to try and beat the problem of drug trafficking through improvised water craft including small submarines and amphibious craft.
As part of the planned retaliatory steps, the drones will be used to gather information that can be used more effectively to block the criminal gangs' flights and eventually to have those criminal fights intercepted or shot down.
Brazil is concerned over the widespread crime in its own territory and in neighboring countries. Brazil fears the crime will reflect on its hosting of two major sport events, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
After decades of neglect and entrenched social prejudices, the country's notorious favelas and the slum-dwellers' colorful subcultures -- often unlawful -- are receiving attention.
Brazilian officials admit the favelas are a blot on Brazil's international standing. They are anxious to minimize any blatant signs of lawlessness, drug abuse, prostitution and poverty before the run-up to the two events. Both the officials and Brazilian media admit many of the favelas encapsulate all of those problems.
