TEGUCIGALPA: Hundreds of police deployed in Honduras Thursday to wrest control back from gangsters at two high-security prisons days after 46 inmates died in a gruesome settling of scores.
Operation “Faith and Hope” targeted veritable arsenals known to be smuggled into prison by gang members with the help of corrupt guards, the military police said in a statement.
It released photos of drugs and ammunition seized at the prisons of El Pozo and Siria -- both north of the capital Tegucigalpa -- but no weapons.
On Monday, raids on two other prisons yielded an array of heavy weapons including machine guns, magazines with thousands of bullets, and grenades.
Like elsewhere in Central America, Honduran prisons house members of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs.
In the most recent outbreak of prison violence in the country, gang members sprayed their rivals with gunfire and set them ablaze at a female penitentiary on June 20.
The government subsequently announced the military police would assume control of Honduras's 21 prisons for a period of one year and train 2,000 new prison guards.
More than 1,000 Honduran inmates have died in fights or riots over the past 20 years, according to official figures. -AFP
