Brazilian Police Arrest 2 People over Plot to Bomb Lady Gaga Concert

Alsharq Tribune- Gina Issa 

Brazilian police said on Sunday that they had thwarted a plot to detonate a bomb at Lady Gaga’ s concert in Rio de Janeiro.

The event, on Saturday, was the biggest show of her career that drew some 2 million fans to Copacabana Beach.

Rio de Janeiro's state police said they had worked with the Justice Ministry to disrupt an attack allegedly planned by a group that was spreading hate speech. Police said the group sought to radicalize and recruit teenagers to carry out attacks using Molotov cocktails and improvised explosives.

“The plan was treated as a ‘collective challenge’ with the aim of gaining notoriety on social media,” the police said, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities said they arrested two people in connection with the planned attack — the alleged leader of the group on illegal weapons possession charges in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, and a teenager on child pornography charges in Rio.

Authorities said police raided the locations of 15 suspects across several states in Brazil and confiscated phones and other electronic devices.