Police find Brazil drug Kingpin suspect Antonio Bonfim Lopes in car boot

Antonio Bonfim Lopes, the alleged drug lord of the teeming Rocinha slum, was captured in bizarre circumstances when police found him in the boot of a car being driven by men posing as diplomats from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

5:53PM GMT 10 Nov 2011

Police were preparing to occupy the city's largest slum, as part of preparations to host the Olympic Games in 2016, when they captured Antonio Bonfim Lopes, one of Rio de Janeiro's most-wanted suspected drug traffickers on Thursday.

Police stopped a car as it tried to leave Rocinha, a sprawling Brazil hillside slum and home to more than 100,000 people.

Policemen said the car's three occupants identified themselves as the Congolese consul, another diplomat from the African country and a lawyer. They tried to bribe police with cash to allow them to pass.

The fresh-faced Nem, reported to be 35-years-old, put up no resistance when police opened the car boot and was taken along with his three associates to the police headquarters in Rio.

Police are expected to invade and occupy Rocinha as early as this weekend as Rio authorities expand a security programme to take back swathes of the city dominated by armed drug gangs.

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