Brazilian police said Tuesday that the massacre of 15 people in southern Parana state was carried out by drug dealers.
The massacre took place Monday in a shantytown in Guaira town, near the Paraguayan border. Three minors were among the dead.
According to the police, there were at least five killers who arrived at the shantytown by boat, crossing the Itaipu Lake and the border.
Police said the killers were Brazilian drug dealers operating in the neighboring country.
A drug boss known as "Polaco" was apparently among the dead, along with two women and several boys.
According to Parana State Security Secretary Fernando Delazari, the motive for the massacre was a 4,000 reais (approximately 2,526U.S. dollars) debt which Polaco's group had with the killers.
The massacre might also be motivated by revenge, as Polaco's group is said to have tried to kill the dealers' leader, police said.
Delazari said that the killers have already been identified, but their names could not be disclosed so far.
A total of 200 Brazilian policemen were involved in the investigations, and Brazilian police had requested support from the Paraguayan authorities as the killers were believed to have crossed the border.
Drug and weapons dealing have been rampant in the Guaira area in the last two years since the Brazilian government toughened inspections in the Amizade Bridge which separates the country from Paraguay.
In the last two months, Brazil's federal police seized a ton of marijuana, 14 pistols and five machine guns in the area.
Source:Xinhua
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