Brazilian authorities announced they had arrested four members of the military and one police officer on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The five were arrested over an alleged plot to overthrow Brazil’s government and assassinate President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after the 2022 presidential election.
Investigators said those arrested, which included military officials who trained with the country’s special forces and a retired senior military official, also planned to kill Brazil’s vice president and a supreme court justice.
Authorities seized the suspects’ passports and are restricting who they can make contact with.
The judge who ordered the operation that led to the arrests said he believed the goal behind the plot was to “undermine the free exercise of democracy and authority of Brazil’s judiciary.”
The arrests come after two top Brazilian military leaders alleged earlier this year that former President Jai Bolsonaro told them he planned to stay in power after he lost the 2022 presidential election. The officers reportedly warned him if he attempted to do so they would arrest him.
Prosecutors have also claimed that the former president is connected to riots in January in the country’s capital one week after Lula’s inauguration.
Bolsonaro’s supporters reportedly stormed government buildings in a bid to overturn the election results.
Meanwhile, President Lula hasn’t commented on the arrests as he was busy hosting the final day of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro and meeting with world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden.
