Brazilian police revealed Sunday that they thwarted a terror attack that would have targeted Lady Gaga’s record-breaking concert at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro state and Brazil’s Justice Ministry announced two arrests the morning after the concert, adding that suspects were planning to carry out a bomb attack at the concert that drew an estimated 2.5 million people.
According to police (via Reuters), the plot was orchestrated by a group “promoting hate speech [against the LGBTQ community] and the radicalization of teenagers.”
“The suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out coordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” the police said in a statement. “The plan was treated as a ‘collective challenge’ with the aim of gaining notoriety on social media.”
One male suspect described as the group’s leader was arrested in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul for illegal possession of a firearm, while a teenager in Rio de Janeiro was detained for storing child pornography.
“We learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning,” a spokesperson for Gaga said in a statement Sunday. “Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks. Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place.”
Authorities — which dubbed the investigation “Operation Fake Monster,” a nod to Gaga’s Little Monsters fanbase — also carried out search warrants on 15 additional suspects throughout the country, confiscating phones and other electronic devices.
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The plot was uncovered through the Justice Ministry’s the ministry’s Cyber Operations Lab following a tip from Rio state police intelligence, which found online evidence of digital cells encouraging violence toward the Copacabana Beach attendees.
From Rolling Stone US
