"The Federal Police launched Operation Trapiche with the aim of disrupting the preparation of terrorist acts and obtaining evidence of possible recruitment of Brazilians to carry out extremist actions in the country. Federal Police officers executed two temporary arrest warrants and 11 search and seizure warrants issued by the judicial branch of Belo Horizonte in the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and the Federal District," the police said in a statement.
They face a maximum penalty of 15 years and 6 months in prison, according to the statement.
Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported, citing sources in security forces, that the two Brazilian nationals arrested in Sao Paulo had been recruited by and received funding from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The criminal group was allegedly preparing attacks on Jewish community buildings and synagogues in Brazil.
One of the suspects was reportedly detained upon arrival from Lebanon at Guarulhos International Airport near Sao Paulo and had instructions to carry out terrorist attacks. The second suspect was arrested in Sao Paulo.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, together with Brazilian security services and international partners, had helped to foil the attack in Brazil.
"The Brazilian security services, together with the Mossad and its partners in the Israeli security community, alongside additional international security and enforcement agencies, have foiled a terrorist attack in Brazil, which had been planned by the Hezbollah terrorist organization, directed and financed by the Iranian regime. This was an extensive network that operated in additional countries," the office said in a statement on the website.
The office, on behalf of Mossad, thanked the Brazilian security services "for the arrest of a terrorist cell that was operated by Hezbollah in order to carry out an attack on Israeli and Jewish targets in Brazil."