The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro arrested two suspects, one of them a teenager, in an operation against a group that allegedly planned to attack with homemade explosives at the mega concert of Lady Gaga in the city. Authorities reported that the 'mastermind' behind the attack was captured in the state of Rio Grande do Sul for illegal possession of a firearm, while the teenager, who also stored child sexual abuse material, was arrested in Rio de Janeiro.
The operation took place in thirteen locations across several Brazilian states, including Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, and Mato Grosso. According to the investigation, the suspects recruited teenagers via the Internet to promote attacks using improvised explosives. They used fake profiles on social media posing as members of the Lady Gaga fan community, known as 'Little Monsters', aiming to gain notoriety on social media and as a challenge.
The Ministry of Justice indicated that the group sought to attack at Lady Gaga's concert, which drew approximately 2.1 million people to Copacabana beach. According to authorities, the network promoted the radicalization of teenagers, the dissemination of hate crimes, self-harm, and violent content as a form of belonging and challenge among young people.
In one of the developments of the operation, the police registered the address of a man in Macaé, a municipality in the state of Rio, who was also planning attacks and had threatened to kill a minor live on air. The action, dubbed 'Fake Monster', was made possible thanks to a tip from the Intelligence Department of the Rio Police.
Lady Gaga held a massive free concert in Copacabana, which lasted about two hours and featured a strong security presence of around 5,000 agents, 78 observation towers, drones with facial recognition technology, and additional security cameras. The singer's presence was highly anticipated in Brazil after she canceled her performance at Rock in Rio in 2017 due to health issues.
