Brazilians recruited by ISIS expose Brazil’s links with terrorism

In less than a month, Brazil was associated with two cases of terrorism involving Islamic militias, which shows an increasing proximity to the influence of these groups that preach and practice terror, mainly from the Middle East, in the country.

The first case occurred on November 8, when the Federal Police arrested two suspects linked to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, who planned to carry out acts against Jews within the country, including attacks on Jewish community buildings, such as synagogues.

Police investigations and published documents indicate that the militia entered Brazilian territory with the help of Comando Vermelho (CV), a criminal group that operates mainly on the Brazilian border and in the state of Rio de Janeiro and that facilitated the activities of Lebanese extremists in the country.

A second case took place in Spain, where two Brazilians were arrested accused of spreading terrorism and maintaining links with the Islamic State.

According to investigations by European authorities, with cooperation from the Brazilian police, the duo advertised for jihadists on the internet and published manuals on mass murders, materials for making explosives and poisoning, a history of terrorist activities already carried out and documents that, for them, , justified the practice of suicidal actions.

In addition to Hezbollah’s already known connections with the CV and the First Capital Command (PCC), these recent events, less than 30 days apart, expose the scope of the presence of extremist groups, especially in a period in which several wars are taking place around the world. around the world, such as in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and show that Brazil is more vulnerable to recruitment by criminal organizations, the last two being Islamic militias.

According to the Public Policy manager at the University of São Paulo (USP) and anti-terrorism intelligence analyst Barbara Krysttal, some factors explain this greater openness of Brazil to terrorist influence.

“One of the issues that facilitate the recruitment of Brazilians by these groups is that they look like anyone in the world. In the country, we have the most different people, so this miscegenation is one of the factors that interest criminal organizations, it is something positive for They want the recruit to look like anyone in the world when carrying out an attack,” said Krysttal.

According to the expert, another highlight that makes Brazil attractive for prospecting these volunteers is the low per capita income of the majority of those co-opted.

“There is no such thing as terrorism and organized crime without financing, therefore, these groups have several agencies and people who make donations to coordinate their activities and seek out people with a lower income. Generally, they are people who have a lot of idle time or who are looking for some ideology, they see a possibility of acting in an area they don’t know”, he highlighted.

For Krysttal, one of the main reasons that lead Brazilians, the majority of whom are young people, to join terrorist groups such as Hezbollah or the Islamic State is the search for power and recognition.

“In general, these terrorist groups, especially the Islamic ones, have the demonstration of terror as their main brand, they want to convey fear, show that they do not follow legislation or ethics, this power greatly increases their reputational risk. When someone searches for this type of links with these organizations, it is precisely to find a space of power, they become fans”, said the expert.

The internet has become the most important space for the spread of terrorism. One of the most effective means of recruitment are groups created on social networks or the Deep Web, a hidden space on the internet widely used to commit crimes, as it is not easily monitored.

According to the expert, in the last decade, these virtual environments have facilitated the co-option of people into these groups. “In the last five to ten years, this has been more recurrent. The internet has made this contact more agile”, she highlighted.

For Krysttal, a fundamental point for Brazil to prevent the expansion of these extremist activities at a national level is the creation of a specific program aimed at combating terrorism, which encompasses better monitoring and accountability on social networks and investments in the area of ​​public security, with technology from example countries on issues in the area.

“The Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) and National Defense must have a greater range of knowledge transfer and techniques from different areas of security, we need to bring technology and knowledge from this medium to national intelligence. This needs to be in the strategic planning of the Multi-Year Plan (PPA) for next year”, he pointed out.

According to her, one of the biggest challenges faced today in the country is the lack of transparency regarding data related to terrorism: “Brazil does not easily provide this data, for example, the number of people arrested in the country for terrorist actions. important for the population to report it, it could be a neighbor”.

“Recently, we had an update to the legislation, but it already needed to be revised, because we did not expect such an incidence. The more the number of countries at war increases, the more fragile Brazil becomes”, added the public security specialist.