Brazil police foil bomb plot targeting packed Lady Gaga concert in Rio
Brazilian police said on Sunday they had thwarted a bomb attack planned for Lady Gaga's historic concert that drew more than 2-million people to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro state, working in co-ordination with the justice ministry, said the plot was orchestrated by a group promoting hate speech and the radicalisation of teenagers, including self-harm and violent content as a form of social belonging.
According to the Rio city hall, 2.1-million people attended the concert of the American pop icon.
'The suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out co-ordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,' the police said in a statement.
The justice ministry said the recruiters identified themselves as members of Gaga's global fan base, known as the 'Little Monsters'.
The operation was based on a report by the ministry's Cyber Operations Lab after a tip-off from Rio state police intelligence, which uncovered digital cells encouraging violent behaviour among teenagers using coded language and extremist symbolism.
A man 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.
Authorities carried out more than a dozen search and seizure warrants across the states of Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul and Sao Paulo.
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