Brazilian police say they've literally taken a bite out of crime.
Officers raided raided the home of a drug dealer's mother-in-law on Wednesday and found two alligators, one of them almost 2 metres long, said police inspector Ronaldo Oliveira.
Police speculated that traffickers used the jacarei alligators to help them dispose of bodies and to torture captured members of rival gangs, though they gave no evidence of anyone being eaten or tortured.
Oliveira said the woman didn't know the aminals were in her house and she was not arrested.
The alligators were turned over to the Rio zoo.
Police also arrested three men while seizing several guns and a small quantity of drugs during the operation in the Coreia shantytown, Oliveira said.