Brazilian police crack down group linked to Islamic State

Brazil's federal police announced Thursday that it had broken up a group suspected of planning violent acts and of having links to the Islamic State terrorist organization.

In a secret operation codenamed Hashtag, conducted two weeks before the opening of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, 10 people were arrested in a number of states. This was announced by Justice Minister Alexandre Moraes at a press conference, who stated that those arrested had been given temporary prison sentences of 30 days.

He said that the first phase of Operation Hashtag had arrested 10 individuals believed to be part of a "suspected terrorism cell" in Brazil. Two more suspects were not arrested but are currently being searched for.

According to Moraes, Brazilian intelligence operatives had been monitoring the suspects for several months, and that these had exchanged information about "preparing terrorist acts" through text messages and on social networks, such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

"From the moment that they began speaking of preparations...the government acted swiftly," he said.

"Various messages showed these people celebrating the attacks in Orlando and Nice...and posting and sharing executions carried out by the Islamic State," added the minister.

Certain suspects also released a video on the Internet swearing allegiance to the Islamic State, although there was no indication they had personal contact with members of the terrorist group or travelled outside of Brazil to meet them.

"They repeated recordings, there was no interaction. The person who pledged allegiance was made to believe they were part of the Islamic State," explained Moraes. Enditem