Brazil police arrest five over coup plot to kill leader

Brazilian police have arrested five military personnel over an alleged coup attempt which included killing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his vice-president weeks before they took office.

The arrests mark the first time in the long-running investigation that federal police have said that those plotting the coup had planned to kill the two men, who had just won a bitter presidential election.

Most of those investigated are military personnel with Special Forces training, the police said in a statement, and pointed to "a high level of technical-military knowledge" evident in the plan.

"A detailed operational plan called 'Green and Yellow Dagger' was identified, which would be executed on 15 December, 2022, aimed at the murder of the elected candidates for president and vice-president."

Federal police officers made the arrests today but have not released any names. Three search and seizure warrants were acted upon and other 15 precautionary measures were also carried out.

These include banning the suspects from leaving the country or from contacting each other.

"Investigations indicate that the criminal organization used a high level of technical-military knowledge to plan, coordinate and execute illicit actions in the months of November and December 2022," the statement said.

Mr Lula won the presidential election in October 2022, defeating the rightist incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, and took office in January 2023.

The federal police investigation will conclude that Mr Bolsonaro conspired to engineer the attempted coup after he lost the election, a source with direct knowledge of the investigations told Reuters in October. The probe is expected to be finished this month.

The Brazilian army monitored the federal operation against the coup plotters, which was carried out in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Goias, Amazonas and the Federal District.

The police said that the suspects under investigation had planned for an "Institutional Crisis Management Office" to be installed in order to manage problems arising from the coup.

They also planned to seize and kill a Supreme Court justice if they succeeded, police said, without naming the judge.