Brazilian federal police crack down on terrorist groups linked to Hezbollah

Yellow Hezbollah flags in Lebanon. Photo: Mohammad Kassir/Shutterstock

The Brazilian Federal Police on Wednesday launched an operation to dismantle organizations that were “preparing” to carry out terrorist acts in Brazil, as well as “recruiting Brazilians to carry out extreme acts in the country.” According to several reports, they were planning to attack buildings in Jewish communities in Brazil.

Marshals executed two temporary arrest warrants and raided 11 addresses linked to the suspects — in the states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo, as well as in Brasília, the federal capital. In a statement, the Federal Police said that both the recruiters and those recruited to join terrorist organizations could face up to 15 and a half years in prison.

The suspects were reportedly linked to Hezbollah, an armed group that defines itself as a resistance movement dedicated to protecting Lebanon, fighting Israel, and supporting the Palestinian quest for statehood.

In 2014, the Federal Police linked Hezbollah to São Paulo’s First Command of the Capital (PCC), a cartel described by the U.S. government as “the most powerful organized crime group in Brazil and among the most powerful in the world.”

According to police documents, Hezbollah helped the PCC obtain weapons in exchange for the protection of prisoners of Lebanese origin held in Brazil. The same reports indicated that Lebanese traffickers linked to Hezbollah reportedly helped sell C4 explosives that the PCC allegedly stole in Paraguay.

Brazil’s anti-terrorism law — passed in March 2016, months before the country hosted the Rio Summer Olympics — lists specific motivations that qualify acts as terrorist: “xenophobia, discrimination, or prejudice based on race, color, ethnicity, and religion.”

A May 2023 report by the Israelite Confederation of Brazil stated that antisemitic incidents in schools increased by 760 percent between 2019 and 2022. Amid the war between Israel and Hamas, Jewish communities around the world have been on heightened alert for possible attacks.