Ten Brazilians who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) militant group were arrested on Thursday, authorities announced, describing them as “amateurs” who discussed on social media the possibility of staging attacks during next month’s Olympics.
Brazilian Minister of Justice 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.
Authorities said any attack plan would have had little chance of coming to fruition, citing the group’s lack of resources and skills.
However, officials and security experts said that police were justified in being aggressive in light of “lone wolf” attacks staged in the US and Europe by men with little or no training.
Moraes said police acted because the group discussed using weapons and guerrilla tactics to potentially launch an attack during the Olympics, which begins in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5.
They will remain in police custody for at least 30 days.
“They were complete amateurs and ill-prepared” to actually launch an attack, Moraes said. “A few days ago they said they should start practicing martial arts, for example.”
He said that there were no specific targets for an attack, but that even disorganized groups have to be taken seriously.
The possibility of an attack is not so “far-fetched” even though Brazil has never been a target for terrorism, said Alex Kassirer, a counterterrorism analyst at Flashpoint, a New York-based intelligence group.
“The Olympics is a really unique opportunity to be able to target a concentration of all of the enemies in one area,” she said.
Kassirer said the Islamic State group launched a channel in May on the messaging app Telegram to disseminate propaganda specifically in Portuguese. On Sunday, another channel vowed allegiance to the IS, although its authenticity has not been determined, she said.
The arrests were made in 10 different states, including Sao Paulo and Parana in the southern part of the country, and it was not clear whether the suspects knew each other beyond their online contacts.
Moraes said authorities seized computers, cellphones and other equipment, but no weapons.
Authorities said the investigation that began in April showed the suspects had all been “baptized” as IS sympathizers online, but none had actually traveled to Syria or Iraq, the group’s stronghold, or received any training.
Several were allegedly trying to secure financing from the IS.
Investigators said none of the suspects was of Arab descent, but released no details on their religion. They were described as being between the ages of 20 and 40, except for one minor.
Newton de Oliveira, a professor and security specialist at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Rio de Janeiro, applauded authorities for detecting the group, saying recent world events raised worries about terrorism during the sporting event.
However, he said it was hard to say how serious this threat was.
“It’s not clear whether we are talking about young people getting carried away or if they were going to move forward with actions,” Oliveira said.
The justice minister said one of the suspects communicated with a store in Paraguay via e-mail in an alleged attempt to buy an AK-47 assault rifle, apparently the most concrete action taken toward a possible attack. The e-mail communication was intercepted by police.
Brazilians are allowed to possess small firearms, but must have a license and training to do so. Only members of the military may possess assault weapons like the AK-47, although those and other firearms are common in the country, especially in slums controlled by drug gangs.
Last week, the top military aide for Brazil’s interim government said concerns over terrorism had “reached a higher level” after the truck attack that killed 84 people in Nice, France.
Officials did not raise the country’s terror alert level on Thursday following the raids.
Security has emerged as the top concern during the Olympics, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio’s hundreds of slums.
Authorities have said 85,000 police officers and soldiers will be patrolling during the competitions.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not