Brazilian police prevent planned bomb attack on Lady Gaga concert

Brazilian police have revealed they foiled a planned bombing attack on Lady Gaga’s free concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, May 3.

A joint operation between the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro and the Justice Ministry uncovered the planned attack, aiming to predominantly target children, adolescents and the LGBTQI+ community.

The group are said to have been hoping to spread hate speech and gain notoriety on social media, and have been advocating for the radicalisation of teenagers through promoting self-harm, peadophilia and violent content online.

Suspects had recruited participants to carry out the attacks with improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails.

The mastermind of the plan and a teenager have been arrested. The former was arrested for illegally possessing a fire in Rio Grande do Sul, and the latter was detained for storing child pornography in Rio.

Around two million people attended the free concert, breaking a record set by Madonna last year, which was paid for by the city of Rio to try to help stimulate the local economy. It is believed the concert raised almost £80 million for Rio, with more than 500,000 tourists coming to the city to attend.

A spokesperson for Lady Gaga told The Hollywood Reporter: "We learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning.

"Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks."

Felipe Cury, secretary of the Rio police, said the suspects "were clearly saying that they were planning an attack at Lady Gaga’s concert motivated by sexual orientation."

The Justice Ministry stated that members of the group were disguising themselves online as “Little Monsters” — Lady Gaga's nickname for her fans.

The polce operation was named ‘Operation Fake Monster’, launched off the back of a tip-off from intelligence services.

15 search warrants were issued against nine targets in multiple Brazilian cities - Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso - where seizures were made of electronic devices and more.

5,000 officers were policing the event and attendees were made to enter through metal detectors, with drones and facial recognition cameras also used.

[Via: BBC]

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Editor & Digital Director, follow him on Twitter