(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s federal police arrested five people for allegedly plotting to kill President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his vice president and a top judge as part of a 2022 coup attempt.
The suspects — mainly military personnel, including a retired general — intended to prevent Lula from taking office after he defeated former President Jair Bolsonaro in the October 2022 election, police said Tuesday.
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes were also targeted in the December 2022 plot, police said.
Investigators allege the men monitored Moraes to “arrest him illegally and possibly murder him,” and then “planned the murders” of Lula and Alckmin “with the purpose of preventing the installation of the legitimately elected government and restricting the free exercise of democracy,” according to a court document.
One of the suspects arrested is a federal police officer who worked on Lula’s security detail during the government transition, Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski told reporters Tuesday afternoon in Brasilia.
The conspirators began monitoring the movements of their targets as early as November 2022, after a meeting at the home of former Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, who was Bolsonaro’s running mate that year, police said.
Lula, Alckmin, Moraes, Bolsonaro and Braga Netto didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
To kill Lula, the conspirators considered using poison or chemicals “to cause an organic collapse” given the vulnerability of his health and frequent hospital visits, according to police. To kill Moraes, investigators said the suspects considered several options, including “the use of an explosive device or poisoning at an official public event.”
Lewandowski said there was no indication that “a coup was being plotted from the presidential palace.” The justice minister spoke with Lula in the morning and said the president was “absolutely surprised and amazed at the scale of this coup.”
(Updated with comments from justice minister in 5th, 9th paragraphs)
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