Rio to receive $75.8 mln to beef up security

Brazilian Justice Minister Tarso Genro announced Tuesday that Rio would receive a total of 131.8 million reais (75.8 million U.S. dollars) to make the city safer for the 2016 Olympic Games.

The money would be used to purchase police equipment and improve state prisons.

The National Program for Public Security with Citizenship (Pronasci), which deals with the causes of violence, would also be financed.

A total of 39 million reais (22.4 million dollars) would serve as a bonus for the state's policemen.

Genro also advocated tougher sentences for drug lords and leaders of criminal organizations.

He said that the Justice Ministry would submit a bill to the Congress this year to modify Brazil's probation system to make it harder for those criminals to be released before completing their jail term.

According to Genro, 121.3 million reais (69.7 million dollars) had been injected into Rio's security sector since the beginning of the year.

Source: Xinhua