Prison guards repel commandos

Armed men firing from pickup trucks and flying in a helicopter attacked a maximum-security prison holding some of Brazil’s highest-profile inmates but were repelled by guards, authorities said. No inmates escaped.

The federal prison attacked late Sunday houses Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia and Brazilian gang leader Luiz Fernando da Costa -- and officials were investigating whether the gunmen were trying to free either of them.

The helicopter never landed, according to a Justice Ministry spokesman who declined to give his name.

Shots were fired at the control towers, and guards counterattacked with guns and grenades, Brazil’s Globo TV reported.