The man in question had placed an explosive device on a tanker near Brasilia airport
In the arrest of a supporter of the outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro who attempted to cause “chaos” with explosives, Brazilian police proceeded, one week before the inauguration of the president-elect Luis Inacio Lula da Silvathe local press reported yesterday, Sunday.
The man in question, whose name was mentioned George Washington de Oliveira Souza, was arrested on Saturday. He had planted an explosive device on a tanker near Brasilia airport. Lula’s swearing-in ceremony is set to take place on January 1 in the Brazilian capital.
His aim, according to his statements to the police published in the local press, was to “cause chaos” and “the intervention of the armed forces” in order to “prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil.”
The tanker driver alerted the police after finding the explosive device on Saturday morning.
Although there was an attempt to detonate, the device did not explode, said Mr Robson Candidoa high-ranking Brasilia police official, during a press conference, according to news website G1.
“The serious events that happened yesterday in Brasilia prove that the camps of the so-called ‘patriots’ have become breeding grounds for terrorists,” he tweeted. Flavio Dinowho is set to take over as Minister of Justice in Lula’s next government.
The arrested man said he had hatched the plan with other Bolsonaro supporters, who had been demonstrating for days after the outgoing president announced his defeat in front of the armed forces’ general staff in Brasilia.
The idea was to plant at least two explosive devices in strategic locations with the aim of “declaring the country under siege” and “provoking the intervention of the armed forces,” Oliveira Souza told police, according to the newspaper. Folha de S. Paulo.
Bolsonaro’s supporters had blocked roads and demonstrated in front of camps across the country, following Lula’s narrow victory in the Oct. 30 election (50.9% of the vote to 49.1%).
Months later, pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations are still taking place in front of some camps. In the apartment of Oliveira Souza, who worked at a gas station in the state of Pará (northern Brazil), the police found a significant amount of weapons.
Oliveira Souza said he was “inspired by the words of President Bolsonaro” to acquire the weapons, which are worth an estimated 160,000 reais (about $31,100), Folha de S. Paulo reports.
Bolsonaro has argued in public statements that “an armed people will never be enslaved”.
According to his confession, the prisoner wanted to distribute weapons to the people protesting in front of the camps.
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