SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil’s Islamic community supports police actions against a group of people suspected of planning attacks during the Olympics as long as the investigations are conducted in a transparent way, a Brazilian Muslim leader said Friday.
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Ten Brazilians who authorities described as amateurs were yesterday arrested in connection with an alleged plot to carry out attacks during the Games, while two others are being sought.
“They were complete amateurs and ill-prepared” to actually launch an attack, Moraes said.
Brazilian Defense Minister, Raul Jungmann, said authorities had been monitoring the group for some time.
The group did not have direct contact with ISIL, though some of its members had made “pro forma” declarations of allegiance to the armed group, the minister said. He was a visiting professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
The country’s large Arab community, while mainly Christian, has always been the subject of speculation over suspected ties to militant groups, but no proof of such a relationship has ever been discovered by Brazilian or foreign intelligence officials.
But he cautioned it was hard to say how serious this threat was. Authorities said none of the suspects met each other personally, although one suspect had made plans to purchase an AK-47 rifle from neighboring Paraguay, according to Brazilian media reports. He was arrested in France in 2009 after police had allegedly intercepted emails between himself and terrorist organizations.
They also had not secured any weapons.
Last week, Brazil said it was bolstering security for the August 5-21 Olympics following the deadly lorry attack in the French city of Nice, which killed 84 people and left scores badly wounded.
Security has emerged as the top concern during the Olympics, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio’s hundreds of slums.
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Fans bought more than 100,000 tickets in less than five hours after the final major batch of Olympic Games tickets went on sale, the organisers said.
