Brazilian police say missing journalist probably killed

By The Associated Press

06.10.02

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Editor's note: Police arrested a suspected drug lord on Sept. 19 in connection with Lopes' killing.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A Brazilian television journalist who has been missing for a week was probably tortured and killed by drug traffickers, authorities said.

Tim Lopes, 50, from TV Globo, disappeared in Rio de Janeiro's Vila Cruzeiro slum June 2 while researching activities in the slum for a documentary.

One of two suspects arrested by police yesterday said Lopes was captured by about 10 drug traffickers, shot at, tortured and then executed by fugitive drug lord Elias Maluco, who controls the slum, a spokesman for state Security Secretary Roberto Aguiar told the Associated Press.

The police consider Lopes to be dead, but are still searching for his body, said Pedro Paulo Pinho, spokesman for Rio police chief Tadeu Teixeira.

More than 1,000 police and intelligence forces were seeking Lopes, who angered local drug gangs earlier this year when he broadcast a report showing an open air drug bazaar in another Rio slum.

Authorities were still awaiting the result of DNA tests on body remains found near the slum to determine whether they belonged to Lopes, Pinho said.

Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso told television reporters yesterday that in killing Lopes, drug traffickers tried to silence the voice of the press, which had denounced the encroachment of the drug world. Cardoso asked all sectors of society to unite in the fight against crime.

In a statement yesterday, Brazil's Association of Newspapers condemned Lopes' assassination and said the tragedy of his death would not deter investigative journalists from continuing to do their jobs.

Hundreds of journalists marched through Rio's streets late last week demanding greater protection.

According to the Freedom Forum's Journalists Memorial data, 10 journalists have been killed on the job in Brazil since 1982 in addition to Lopes.

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