Brazil nabs terror suspects
‘AMATEUR’: 10 IS backers were allegedly plotting attacks ahead of Olympics
BRAZILIAN police have arrested 10 members of an “amateur” would-be terrorist group that expressed loyalty to the Islamic State group and was preparing attacks ahead of the Olympics, officials said on Thursday.
The nationwide anti-terrorism swoop codenamed Operation Hashtag was the most heavily publicised security incident ahead of the Games, which starts in Rio de Janeiro on Aug 5.
However, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes described the alleged group of Brazilian nationals as “an absolutely amateur cell” and “disorganised”.
He also said “there was no specific target”.
The alleged plotters were arrested across 10 states in the vast country and had been in contact via messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram.
Most of them did not know each other previously and it was not clear if any had ever met in person.
Officials downplayed links to IS, which has claimed responsibility for a string of bloody assaults on civilians in France and elsewhere.
“Some of them made an oath of loyalty via the Internet to IS, but there was no personal contact by this group with IS via WhatsApp,” de Moraes said.
He insisted that the security situation ahead of the Games, the first held in South America, was unchanged.
“The risk remains the same. There is a minimal probability of a terrorist act during the Rio Olympics,” the minister said at the hastily called press conference.
The Justice Ministry said it began monitoring messages sent between
hangar in Brasilia on Thursday. the group, which called itself “Defenders of Sharia” in April.
It said a non-governmental organisation was also being probed.
The most concrete act by the alleged group was an attempt to contact a black market weapons supplier in neighbouring Paraguay to purchase a Kalashnikov assault rifle,
at the Brazilian Federal Police de Moraes said.
However, other preparations discussed appeared to illustrate what officials said was the group’s amateur nature, with only two weeks to go until the Games begin.
“There was an order between them to start training in martial arts,” de Moraes said. AFP People sitting on a raft in a flooded street in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China on Thursday. At least 75 people have died or gone missing since last Sunday in northern China in the worst flooding in years. EPApic
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