Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Brazil Police Reveal Thwarted Bomb Attack Targeting Lady Gaga’s Rio Concert

Two people arrested as “suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out coordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” authorities announced Sunday

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.

Trending Stories

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.

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. 

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

News

An estimated 2.5 million fans, including a reported 500,000 Little Monsters who traveled from abroad, witness singer’s first Brazil show since 2012 Lady Gaga...

News

The Little Monster-KatyCat stan wars can stop: these pop divas are friends! On Sunday night, Katy Perry was spotted in the crowd at Lady...

News

Lady Gaga has added seven additional dates to her forthcoming Mayhem Ball tour. The pop star will headline the Chase Center in San Francisco...

Features

The first day of Coachella wasn’t for the faint-hearted this year: The heat soared to a solid 101 degrees in the desert, but that...