Tourists in Rio de Janeiro will no doubt have their pick of Olympic merchandise to bring home as souvenirs — whether it’s an officially licensed product, or sold out of the back of someone’s truck. But amid the plethora of hats, T-shirts, and sporty knick-knacks, there are other, more dangerous offerings for sale.
Drug traffickers have been selling packages of Olympic-themed cocaine, with the Rio games’ logo emblazoned on the front and the helpful advice to “keep away from children,” HuffPo Brasil reports (h/t Washington Post).
Police found the new line of cocaine on Monday night amidst a bunch of drugs they seized in the touristy neighborhood of Lapa, Brazilian publication Globo reported.
Is it kind of funny that even drug traffickers want to make money off the Olympics? Sure, but it’s also part of a much more serious drug crime problem in Rio, WaPo notes: homicides in the city were up 15% in the first four months of this year, compared to the same stretch in 2015.
“Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the world with a national homicide rate of 27.1 per 100,000 inhabitants,” a recent report for the Brookings Institute noted. “A large part of this violence and criminality can be linked to arms and drug trafficking operations by organized crime groups.”
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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