RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) a A night on the town changed into a six-hour-long problem after an American girl was gang raped and beaten aboard a public transit vehicle while her handcuffed French partner looked on helplessly, within an episode that's surprised this resort town because it gears up to host next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The police reaction to the assault was swift: The three alleged perpetrators, aged 20 to 22, have all been taken into custody, and investigators are brushing databases to determine if the men might have been behind some other crimes. Many still ask whether Rio specialists, who've succeeded in breaking down on much of the city's drug abuse, are up to the job of defending the waves of tourists likely to flood the town during the forthcoming double-header of mega-events. Some 2 million folks are also expected to head to the city in late July for World Youth Day, a Catholic pilgrimage that Pope Francis is scheduled to go to. Some experts said the attack came as a particular shock considering the fact that safety has improved at least in the city's tourist-friendly, seaside South Zone areas. Visitors and moneyed local people who even three or four years back might have hesitated to hail a taxi in the street or walk around after dark now do equally without thinking twice. "No one expects to be infected in Disneyland, handcuffed and roughed up," Globo paper quoted Alfredo Lopes, the pinnacle of an association representing Brazil's hotel market. "Copacabana is our Disneyland." Yet it absolutely was in that very beach community, packed with older persons in bikinis by day but seedier by night, that both foreigners hailed one of the fleet of public transportation automobiles often used as a faster option to buses. Police investigating the case say the 2 foreigners, both inside their early-20s, were headed right after midnight Saturday to Lapa, a popular downtown lifestyle hotspot where Rio's youth converges on clubs, bars and samba sites. But it never was never made by the pair to their destination. A few minutes within their journey, the van providers forced another passengers down and inflicted on the 2 visitors what Alexandre Braga, the police officer leading the study, has called a "party of evil." The three suspects took turns raping the woman and beating the man, whom they handcuffed and sometimes arranged with a steel crowbar, Braga informed a news conference Tuesday. The suspects split up the driving, ending up in Rio's sister town of Niteroi across Guanabara Bay, where they continued a spree with the foreigners' bank cards. The suspects forced the couple back again to Rio, where in fact the visitors were staying, and forced the woman to retrieve yet another credit card, once they hit the control on both cards, paying around $500 at filling stations and convenience stores, Braga said. Even though she was alone, she did not call the authorities or notify anybody, Braga said, "because the son was still under the suspects' get a grip on and she feared something a whole lot worse might happen to him." Both were dumped by along side it of a highway nearby the town of Itaborai, some 50 kilometers from Rio, some six hours once they were kidnapped. They were able to ensure it is to an unknown country's consulate, where officers took the 2 to the particular police delegation that specializes in crimes against foreigners. While the person remains in Rio to greatly help with the investigations, the young woman has returned to the U.S., Braga said. "The victims recognized the three without a shadow of a doubt," Braga said. The men's mug shots were also regarded by another woman who said she had been raped by the three under similar conditions last month. Yet another foreigner has said she had been robbed by one of the three suspects, police said. Two of the suspects have revealed to Saturday's strike, as the third denies any responsibility. "They don't show any repentance," Braga said. "They are quite indifferent, cold." He explained reliable vehicle providers the men seemed to work, with offense an unexpected side venture. Though they apparently were authorized to move people in Niteroi and nearby Sao Goncalo, the suspects weren't allowed to work the truck in Rio, he explained. The suspects had rented the truck, which seats about a dozen people and has dark tinted windows, from the vehicle's owner, who police say isn't suspected of any participation in the crime. Rio's van services are widely reviled for his or her dangerous safety conditions and reckless driving, in addition to their links to organized crime. Some vans are run by militias generally made up of former police and fire fighters who get a handle on large swaths of the city's slums and run clandestine travel and other companies. Generally speaking, visitors steer clear of the automobiles and choose regular buses or taxis. Sexual approaches remain an issue on public transit. This past year, a female was raped on a bus in broad daylight in a widely publicized case, and the Rio train has special women-only vehicles to help prevent such problems. However, Brazilian authorities stressed Rio is not especially susceptible to such problems. "I think sexual violence is something that could happen anywhere," said Aparecida Goncalves, Brazil's national secretary for violence against women. "I don't genuinely believe that the town of Rio is more harmful than others." "Now we've more means of denouncing them," she said, "of referring to and getting the necessary measures so those responsible are punished and imprisoned." Walter Maierovitch, Brazil's former drug czar and an crime expert, stated that with crime down general, one of many city's major issues is likely to be ensuring visitors remain aware and aware of basic safety precautions. "There is a huge lot of progress in Rio but there's still a lot more to be done in terms of security, primarily more preventive actions, informing visitors both international and domestic of the precautions they must get, areas to avoid," he said. He added that Saturday's strike "was a drawback, in terms of image and security I actually do not think it is a significant or long-lasting one that can frighten visitors far from Rio." Australian guests Emma Richardson and Jason Sestic said they've been taking extraordinary measures through the duration of their weeklong remain in Rio. "We have stayed well away from Copacabana and the beach areas through the night because of Lonely Planet," said Sestic, talking about the popular backpackers' guide book. The 35-year-old, who works in building, added, "I am a pretty paranoid person generally and enough stories have been heard by me about here to be really paranoid." And AP Television manufacturer Ana Pereira and AP authors Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Marco Sibaja in Brasilia led to the report.
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