The Federal Police today arrested two people accused of planning terrorist acts in Brazil on behalf of Hezbollah, which operates from southern Lebanon and is one of the main groups linked to Iran.
This is not the first time that this type of Brazilian police action has occurred. Shortly before the 2016 Olympics in Rio, six individuals were arrested, accused of planning attacks in the name of Hezbollah. They were tried and convicted with the application, for the first time in Brazil, of the Anti-Terrorism Law.
On that occasion, the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) infiltrated the cell. This time, Israel’s foreign secret service, the Mossad, stated on social media that it assisted the Brazilian authorities.
Hezbollah’s presence in South America is more than thirty years old, and the group’s involvement in two bombings in Buenos Aires in the 1990s, as well as its links with the FARC narco-guerrilla group in Colombia, has been widely documented.
In Brazil, Hezbollah has a public and open presence, mainly among a considerable group of people of Lebanese origin and the Shiite branch of the Islamic world, especially in Foz do Iguaçu, Curitiba and São Paulo.
Few details emerged today about the Federal Police operation, which is under secrecy. However, it puts Brazil on the map of Middle Eastern geopolitics.
Source: CNN Brasil
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