Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said in the capital, Brasilia, that the 10 were being held on two terrorism-related charges and that two more people were being sought. They did not know each other personally, the minister said.
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“American/UK/French/Israeli Athletes and visitors can easily be targeted during the entire Olympics. They “were involved in a group called” Defenders of Sharia ‘and were planning to acquire weapons to commit crimes in Brazil and even overseas”, the minister said.
“It’s a first for modern Brazil – Brazilians plotting a terrorist attack on their own country”, Lulu says. “Brazil was not part of the coalition against IS but, because of the upcoming Olympics and because it will receive many foreigners, Brazil has become a target”.
However “they were complete amateurs and ill-prepared” to actually launch an attack, Moraes said. He said that authorities intervened when the group started planning actions including martial-arts training and the purchase of firearms.
The group did not have direct contact with IS though some of its members had made “pro forma” declarations of allegiance to the militant Islamist group, the minister said.
The SITE Intelligence Group that monitors the internet reported the previously unknown group calling itself “Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil” said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that it followed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and had promoted IS propaganda in Arabic, English and Portuguese. “There are some tactical benefits to arrests like this.You could disrupt anything in the works and it may also give other people pause”.
President Temer notes that terror attacks at the Rio Olympic games are “possible” but not “probable” as Brazil’s intelligence agency is on top of the situation.
The International Olympic Committee recently concluded that Rio de Janeiro had overcome setbacks and is “ready to welcome the world” to the 2016 Olympics.
He said members of the group had visited a weapons site in neighboring Paraguay that sells AK-47 assault rifles, but there was no evidence they acquired any weapons.
Moraes said police acted because the group discussed using weapons and guerrilla tactics to potentially launch an attack during the Olympics, which begin in Rio de Janeiro on August 5.
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Almost 130 police officers were mobilized to execute the judicial warrants in Amazonas states, Ceará, Paraíba, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. They will remain in police custody for at least 30 days.
