Brazilian authorities have arrested five individuals suspected of plotting to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shortly before his inauguration.
Among those detained on Tuesday are four soldiers and a police officer, according to local media reports.
The suspects are accused of conspiring to kill Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin on December 15, 2022, just over two weeks before the presidential inauguration.
Lula, elected in October 2022, narrowly defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who never formally conceded defeat.
Following Lula’s swearing-in, Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential palace on January 8, 2023, causing extensive damage.
Police intervened, clearing the buildings and arresting thousands of rioters.
Investigations into the January 8 riots and earlier efforts to obstruct Lula’s inauguration have been ongoing.
However, this marks the first time police have disclosed an alleged assassination plot against the president.
Reacting to the arrests, Social Communications Minister Paulo Pimenta revealed that the plot to kill Lula and Alckmin had nearly been carried out.
“It was just details which stopped it [from being carried out],” the minister said.
Brazilian news site G1 said that what was particularly worrying was that four of those arrested were active members of the military and the fifth a serving member of the police force.
AFP news agency quoted a federal police source as saying that the four soldiers “were arrested in Rio, where they were participating in the security operation for the G20 leaders’ meeting” currently under way in the Brazilian city.
Brazilian news outlet G1 reports that the four soldiers arrested, all trained in special forces, are accused of being part of a criminal organization plotting against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In a statement, Brazil’s federal police revealed that their investigations uncovered a plot utilizing “a high level of technical-military expertise” to plan and execute illicit activities during November and December 2022.
The group reportedly aimed not only to assassinate Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin but also to detain and execute a Supreme Court member once their coup succeeded.
The operation, nicknamed “Green and Yellow Dagger” after Brazil’s national flag colors, allegedly included debates among the plotters on how to “neutralize” Lula and Alckmin, ultimately settling on poisoning the president-elect.
The arrests, conducted early Tuesday morning, were authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.