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Rio de Janeiro. Crack police forces were on Sunday in full control of Rio’s largest favela after launching a dawn assault to eject narcotraffickers who had been ruling the area for 30 years.

“At 6:19 a.m., the police confirmed that the entire [Rocinha] favela was taken,” Globo television said.

The long anticipated operation in a city that has one of the highest murder rates in the country is part of an official campaign since 2008 to restore security in Rio before the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, which Brazil will host.

Backed by navy armor and commandos and with two helicopters flying low overhead, hundreds of special forces police and 200 navy commandos punched their way into the Rocinha shantytown that is home to 120,000 people at dawn

Half-an-hour after the start of operation “Peace Shock,” there were no reports of armed clashes with narcotraffickers.

The troops simultaneously assaulted the neighboring Vidigal favela.

In the streets, a few women were in tears and most of the residents did not want to talk to the press.

All access to the two favelas have been blocked since 2:30 a.m., according to television stations.

Three vehicles blocked one of the avenues in the upper part of Rocinha. Dozens of policemen in the perimeter asked journalists present in the area to remain behind as they fanned out in the narrow alleys.

Streets were deserted with only a few residents watching from their windows as the troops made their advance.

“We hope that the pacification will not be just about ejecting the drug traffickers but also to bring sanitation, education, health,” said Raimundo Benicio de Souda, a 56-year-old community leader known as “Lima.”

“There are people living [here] among cockroaches, urinating and defecating in a can,” Lima said, adding that for this reason “the pacification must have these people as a priority.”

“We want the people to be treated with dignity, respect, that those who have been involved in crimes be jailed but not assassinated” by police, said William de Oliveira, president of the Favelas People’s Movement, wearing a shirt with the inscription “I love Rocinha.”

Authorities estimate that some 200 criminals remain inside Rocinha, built on a steep hillside overlooking the city and located between two wealthy neighborhoods, following last week’s capture of local drug kingpin Antonio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, also known as Nem.

Nem was caught hidden in the trunk of a car, along with several accomplices and a few corrupt policemen who were protecting them.

Nem was a model employee of a telecom company who “stumbled” into organized crime after getting a loan from a former Rocinha drug baron to pay for medical care for one of his daughters.

To pay back his debts, he reportedly began dealing drugs and later took over as chief of the gang which controls Rocinha.

The capture of Rocinha, the 19th favela to be pacified by police, recalled the huge operation launched by joint police and military forces to seize control of Rio’s Alemao favela, home to 400,000 people in November 2010.

Alemao was retaken after three days of clashes that left 37 people dead.

Since Friday, heavily armed police had been besieging Rocinha, checking all cars going or leaving the area.

Endemic and chronic urban violence has long tarnished the image of Rio, where more than 1.5 million people live in 1,000 slums spread throughout the city.

Agence France-Presse