Brazilian soldiers patrol on a road in Deodoro, a neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, on Aug. 3 ahead of the Olympic Games. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

Gunmen near a Rio slum waylaid three Swedish tourists and held one temporarily captive, in the latest report of crime spilling over to target visitors in Rio for the Olympics, police said.

None of the Swedes were hurt, but the incident late Wednesday pointed to wider safety worries during the Rio games, with rising crime in many neighborhoods amid a steep economic recession.

The tourists — two men and a woman — were on their way into downtown Rio from an area near the Olympic Park when they stopped to take photos near the Complexo do Lins favela, the Brazilian name for slum districts in many large cities, the news magazine Veja reported.

A gunman took away one of the tourists, and the other two were able to get help from police, according to a police statement. Police later found the missing tourist, said the report, which gave no other details.

Complexo do Lins is one of the neighborhoods where Brazilian authorities have deployed a "pacification" police strategy to try to tame the violence.

"I warned them that it was dangerous, but they insisted," the driver told Veja.

Security in Rio has been a major concern during the preparations for the Olympics, which officially start Friday.

Brazilian authorities have deployed some 88,000 soldiers and police to guard against potential terrorist attacks, but also to protect athletes and fans from assaults or robberies. Gangs that control drug trafficking operations regularly fight over territory, and gunfire is common.

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