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Brazilian police arrest Isis-linked group over alleged Olympics attack plot Brazilian police arrest Isis-linked group over alleged Olympics attack plot
(35 minutes later)
Brazilian police have arrested 10 people accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terror group who are believed to have been planning an attack on Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics.
The operation on Thursday morning, 15 days before the opening ceremony, was announced by the justice minister, Alexandre Moraes, at a press conference in Brasilia. ALL NEW COPY
Moraes said that no specific target had been chosen for an attack. Fifteen days before the Olympics opening ceremony, Brazilian police have arrested 10 alleged Islamic State sympathisers who are suspected of planning an act of terrorism during the games. Two others are still at large.
“They were complete amateurs and ill-prepared” to actually launch at attack, he said. “A few days ago they said they should start practicing martial arts, for example.” Justice Minister Alexandre Moraes described the suspects - all of whom are Brazilian - as “absolutely amateur and unprepared,” but he said they had sworn allegiance to Islamic State, celebrated the recent attacks in Orlando and Nice, and some of them had tried to buy AK47s.
The federal police issued warrants for the arrest of 10 people in nine Brazilian states who are accused of preparing an act of terrorism. Police are also searching for two other suspects, Moraes said. He provided few details of those involved, but said they were spread across ten states, had a leader in Curitiba and kept in touch by the Whatsapp and Telegram messaging services.
All 12 of the suspects are Brazilian citizens, and one is a minor authorities said. “Those involved participated in an online group denominated ‘the defenders of Sharia’ and were planning to acquire weapons to commit crimes in Brazil and even overseas,” the minister told a news conference.
Allegedly members of a group called Defenders of Sharia, they are believed to have been in online contact with members of Islamic State. They are also reported to have discussed acquisition of AK-47 assault rifles and celebrated the terror attacks on Orlando and Nice. Brazil’s intelligence agency ABIN is said to have worked with foreign counterparts to provide the information that led to the arrests, which were carried out by members of the police and armed forces mostly in the southern states of São Paulo and Parana.
The operation marks the first arrest of suspected Islamist militants in Brazil, and comes after reports that a group called Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil, which supports the Islamic State, launched a Portuguese-language call for jihad or holy war on the Telegram social network. The suspects did not have bomb materials, nor did they identify a target and some merely discussed taking up martial arts, but one of them had reportedly been in contact with a website offering clandestine guns from Paraguay.
Authorities believe they were preparing a shooting attack similar to the one in Orlando.
The minister suggested the arrests were precautionary.
“Due to the proximity of the Olympics - when we will receive many foreigners - Brazil from that point on would start to become part of the target of these people,” he said. The suspects will be held for 60 days.
The operation comes after reports that a militant group Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil, which supports the Islamic State, launched a Portuguese-language call for jihad or holy war on the Telegram social network.
The government said last week that the threat of terrrorism had “reached a higher level” following the killings in Nice, France. In Rio de Janeiro, the authorities said they were planning additional security cordons, road checkpoints and body searches at Olympic venues.
Following Thursday’s arrests, the interim president Michel Temer was due to hold an emergency cabinet meeting.