Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), May 4 (LaPresse/AP) – Brazilian police have announced that they thwarted a plot to detonate a bomb at Lady Gaga's concert yesterday in Rio de Janeiro. The event, which was the biggest show of the pop star’s career, drew about 2 million fans to Copacabana beach. The Rio de Janeiro State Police said they arrested two individuals and worked with the Ministry of Justice to prevent an attack allegedly planned by a group that spreads hate messages against the LGBTQ community. The group sought to radicalize and recruit teenagers to carry out attacks using Molotov cocktails and improvised explosives. “The plan was considered a ‘collective challenge’ with the goal of gaining notoriety on social media,” said the police.
The two arrested individuals are the suspected leader of the group, detained in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on charges of illegal possession of weapons, and a teenager, arrested in Rio on charges of child pornography. Police raided locations housing 15 suspects across various Brazilian states and confiscated phones and other electronic devices.
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