The terrifying details of the foiled terrorist attack in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro’s police have arrested two people suspected of planning a forward attack at Lady Gaga’s free mega-concert on Copacabana beach. The suspects belonged to an online hate group that sought to radicalize young people as they attempted to recruit others to carry out an attack targeting the LGBTQ+ community using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails.

A third person, who allegedly planned to perform a “satanic ritual” during the singer’s concert, has also been arrested as part of the investigation to identify other accomplices involved in the attack.

While Gaga was performing for free in front of nearly 2.1 million people, neither she nor her team knew that the event was being targeted by two individuals posing as fans online, known as the “Little Monsters”. They were trying to recruit others to carry out an attack using explosives.

The police kept information about their investigation, dubbed “Operation Fake Monster”, secret until the arrests were made, to avoid mass panic or distortion of the facts that could have compromised the investigation.

According to CNN, the suspects belonged to an online hate group that sought to radicalize young people by disseminating content linked to hate crimes, self-harm, violence and pedophilia.

In the weeks leading up to the Gaga concert, Brazilian police also claim to have foiled a number of crimes planned on the dark web, with no direct link to the event, but suggesting that the group targeting the concert was also active on these underground networks.

As part of the investigation into the planned forward attack, police arrested an individual on terrorism charges. According to the authorities, he was planning to commit a “satanic ritual involving the murder of a child or infant” during Lady Gaga’s concert.