Hezbollah terrorists recruit Brazilians for attacks against Jews in the DF; PF investigation led to those involved

After the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned about people suspected of links to the Islamic group Hezbollah who planned to commit terrorist acts in Brazil, an investigation by the Federal Police – entitled “Trapiche†€ – discovers that Hezbollah terrorists recruited Brazilians for attacks against Jews in the Federal District.

The operation led to videos, recorded in 2023, in Taguatinga, Brasília, which show different cars circling synagogues and an Israeli cemetery in Brasília. The images were found online with the email address of Lucas Passos Lima, arrested in November last year, when he returned from a trip to Lebanon.

These and more representative places of the Jewish community in Brasília and Goiás appear on a list seized, at the end of 2023, from one of those accused of terrorism in Brazil.

According to authorities, Operation Trapiche's investigations prevented a possible terrorist attack that would have been committed in Brazil.

Recruitment of Brazilians

In a statement to the PF, obtained by Jornal Nacional, one of those recruited by Hezbollah terrorists – a Shiite Islamic political party supported by Iran – states that, upon arriving in Lebanon, he was taken to a building by armed men , where they asked him if he had the capacity to kill people.

According to the man, the terrorists, who carried the Hezbollah symbol on their clothes, initially offered him US$200,000 and another prize of US$500,000 to recruit people and organize the attack.

_{Members of Hezbollah. (Photo: Reproduction/Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP).}

FBI warning and assistance from Israel

On November 1, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informed the Brazilian government about citizens suspected of cooperating with the extremist group Hezbollah to plan attacks against the Jewish community.

After the alert, the PF launched Operation Trapiche to “interrupt preparatory acts of terrorism and obtain evidence of possible recruitment of Brazilians to carry out extremist acts in the country”.

With the support of American agents from the FBI and the Israeli secret service, Brazilian authorities carried out 11 search and seizure warrants in the states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and the Federal District and arrested the suspects Mohamad Khir Abdulmajid and Lucas Passos Lima.

Brazilians of Lebanese descent already in prison must answer for the crimes of establishing or joining a terrorist organization and carrying out preparatory acts of terrorism.

Featured photo: Lucas Passos Lima, arrested in November last year on suspicion of cooperating with the extremist group Hezbollah to plan attacks against the Jewish community. (Reproduction/TV Globo).