Brazilian police arrested 10 members of an "amateur" would-be terrorist group that expressed loyalty to the Islamic State organization and was targeting the upcoming Olympics, according to the AFP. The anti-terrorism swoop code-named Operation Hashtag "was the most concrete security incident so far ahead of the Games, which start in Rio de Janeiro on August 5." However, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes described the alleged group of Brazilian nationals as "an absolutely amateur cell" and "disorganized." The alleged plotters "were arrested across 10 different states in the vast country and had been in contact via messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram." Most of them "did not know each other previously and it was not clear if any had ever met in person." Officials also downplayed links to the Islamic State group which has claimed responsibility for "a string of bloody recent assaults on civilians in France and elsewhere." De Moraes said, "Some of them made an oath of loyalty by internet to the Islamic State, but there was no personal contact by this group with Islamic State by WhatsApp" (AFP, 7/21). REUTERS' Lisandra Paraguassu wrote the SITE Intelligence Group that monitors the Internet reported the previously unknown group calling itself "Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil" said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that "it followed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and had promoted IS propaganda in Arabic, English and Portuguese." Brazilian authorities "stepped up security measures following the truck massacre in Nice, France last week" (REUTERS, 7/21). In London, Newton & Summers wrote there have been reports that jihadi groups linked to rival terror network al-Qaeda "were urging their followers to carry out 'lone wolf' attacks at the Olympics in Rio targeting American, British and French athletes." In an ominous echo of the murderous attacks at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, threats "have also been made to Israeli athletes" (DAILY MAIL, 7/21).
