Police arrest two men accused of raping and robbing foreign tourists

        
Two foreign tourists were held for hours, brutalized and one of them sexually assaulted on public transport after being picked up in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach neighborhood, Brazilian police said.         

The pair was held for around six hours early on Saturday after they boarded a public transport van in Copacabana.          

The vehicle was one of a fleet of vans that serve bus routes and seat about a dozen people.       

"They robbed them, they made purchases and tried to take out cash using their credit cards," Police Inspector Alexandre Braga told local television on Sunday.       

According to police, three assailants forced other passengers to get off and then proceeded to sexually assault the female tourist inside the van.       

"They would alternate driving the vehicle, two would commit rape in the back of the van and the violence against the boyfriend of the victim," said police assistant Rodrigo Brand.

The nationalities of the victims have not been released, but local media reports have said the woman is American.        

Two men aged 20 and 22 have been taken into custody in connection with the incident and were paraded in front of the media on Sunday.         

Police are still looking for the third person involved in the crime.        

Police said one of the victims' mobile phones was found in the suspects' possession.        

The suspects had also used a debit card belonging to one of the victims at two petrol stations, according to police.       

The Globo television network broadcast surveillance camera images of two men filling up the white van.         


AP