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Police in Brasil say they thwarted a bomb attack planned during Lady Gaga’s massive concert that drew over 2 million people to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night.
The alleged plot involved a group promoting hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community. “The suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out coordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” police said in a statement (via Reuters).
The suspected leader of the plot was arrested in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul for illegal possession of a firearm, while more than a dozen search and seizure warrants were carried out across the states of Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul, and São Paulo. The operation was reportedly based on a tip from Rio de Janeiro’s state police intelligence, which uncovered digital cells encouraging violent behavior among teenagers using coded language and extremist symbolism.
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