France Does Not Communicate with Brazil About Suspected Rio Terrorist Plot, Says Government
The Brazilian government has claimed that they had not received any information about a potential terrorist attack on the French delegation. Brazilian intelligence agencies said that all foreign delegations will receive the same "heightened" security at the games.
"All countries' teams will receive the same amount of security. Our integrated safety system can tackle all these eventualities head on. We are dealing with the security of foreign teams as a universal risk and our security measures have been duly heightened," said the Chief Minister of the GSI (Institutional Security Cabinet), General Sérgio Etchegoyen.
The Director General of Abin (The Brazilian Intelligence Agency), Wilson Trezza, said that the organisation had not received any information from the French services about a potential attack until 11 a.m. this Wednesday (13).
Trezza and Etchegoyen agreed to speak at a press conference in the headquarters of Abin, in Brasilia. The interview was scheduled before news broke out that France had reason to suspect the Islamic State of plotting to attack French athletes at Rio de Janeiro.
According to Trezza, Abin has so far completed 61 risk assessments for the Olympics. The content of these safety reports was not divulged to the press. The security organisation also confirmed they have installed encrypted fixed telephone lines as well as mobile lines for use by the authorities.
When asked whether terrorism at Rio was a high-risk threat, Trezza and Etchegoyen informed that the intelligence sector was not using any kind of spectrum or colour-coding that would indicate lower or higher risk levels.
Etchgoyen said "the whole system is alert and ready for the possibility" of a terrorist attack, however the "probability of such an attack is not necessarily heightened". From the point of view of intelligence, defence and justice, Brazil is ready for the games in 2016," said the general.
Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS