Saturday’s show in Rio was the biggest event for the pop star of her career, with millions of fans watching her performances disrupted Copacabana Beach.
Brazilian police said on May 4th that the two were arrested in connection with the assertion that they would cause a bomb at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro.
Saturday’s show in Rio was the biggest event for the pop star of her career, with an estimated 2.5 million fans crowding Copacabana Beach and watching her performance.
According to the state police in Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian Department of Justice, the plot was said to have been carried out by groups targeting a particular group of people, including plans to explode a homemade bomb at the concert.
“The plan was treated as a ‘collective challenge’ with the aim of gaining infamy on social media,” police said.
The group distributed violent content to teenagers online as a “form of attribution,” police added.
The two authorities arrested in connection with the alleged conspiracy were a man called the leader of a southern group in Rio Grande de Sur, who was charged with illegal possession of weapons, and a Rio teenager facing child pornographic accusations.
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Police did not explain the exact role of the two suspects in the plot of the allegations or how the group ultimately targeted Gaga’s Rio Concert.
“Officers recruited participants, including teenagers, to carry out a combined attack using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” police said.
According to Brazil’s Justice Department, the group was a “risk of public order,” and the group called themselves online, tolerating it as “Little Monster,” the name Gaga uses for fans.
The deception was intended to reach teens and draw them into a “network of violent, self-destructive content,” the ministry added.
Authorities confiscated phones and other electronic devices during a series of attacks on the residences of 15 suspects across multiple Brazilian states. Police did not mention finding weapons or explosives during the attack.
The attack was carefully carried out on Saturday, hours before the concert, saying it “avoided panic or distortion of information between the population,” police said.
The Justice Department said the suspicious plot and the actions taken to stop it would not affect those attending the free concert.
“I couldn’t prepare for the emotions I had on last night’s show. The absolute pride and joy I felt like singing for the Brazilian people. The sight of the crowd during the opening song gave me a breath,” the pop star wrote.
Rio City Hall said in a recent report that Gaga’s concert should inject at least $600 million in Leai into the city’s economy.
The city saw more than half a million tourists pouring into the streets in the days before the show, more than twice the initial forecast, according to local bus stop data and Tom Jobim airport, city hall said in a statement Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
