Global intelligence agencies assisted Brazil with the surveillance that led to the arrests, Lulu says.
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Another two suspects have warrants out for their arrests.
Their preparations included attempting to acquire an AK-47 assault rifle in Paraguay, Moraes said.
Authorities said any attack plan would have had little chance of coming to fruition, citing the group’s lack of resources and skills.
Numerous world’s top athletes are passing on this year’s Olympics due to concerns over the Zika virus and terrorist attacks. They believe, however, the terrorists are calling for the “lone wolf” to do something on their behalf.
Messages had appeared to show the suspects celebrating the attacks in Orlando and Nice, as well as making comments about previous terror attacks in France.
De Moraes said the suspects are all Brazilian nationals, and that one minor was mentioned in the conversations.
However, Moraes said even underprepared groups should be taken seriously.
Larissa Rodrigues, the wife of Vitor Barbosa Magalhaes, one of the 10 men arrested, said that he spent six months in Egypt learning Arabic and studying Islam. Brazilian magazine Epoca reported that the anti-terrorism division of Brazil’s federal police agency made arrests as part of a covert operation.
“The threat of ISIS is very small”, Wood told Global News.
The arrests come at a time of mounting concern over the possibility of a terrorist attack in Brazil.
In April, intelligence officials said investigators had monitored a threatening tweet posted by an Islamic State member after the November terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. “Brazil you are next”, it warned.
Moraes said the communications including messages sent and received from WhatsApp, a smartphone application that has drawn the ire of the Brazilian government. It has brought in 6,000 soldiers to bolster Rio’s security at Olympic sites and is planning to set up a special anti-terrorism intelligence center staffed by officials from seven different countries during the event.
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Two suspects remained at large, Moraes said, but were being “tracked”.
