Brazil increases terrorist threat level for Olympic Games; officials aware that there are 'certain people who can lend assistance to such groups'

© Xinhua

Brazilian counter terrorism officials say they are prepared for a “lone wolf ” attack during the Olympic Games, but they think it is unlikely to happen

With a year-and-a-half to go until Rio de Janeiro hosts the next Olympic Games, Brazilian counter terrorism officials say they are prepared for a "lone wolf " attack during the Games, but they think it is unlikely to happen.

Brazil has raised the terrorist threat level for the Summer Olympic Games it will host in 2016 following the recent terror attacks in Paris, said Luiz Alberto Sallaberry, the director of the counter-terrorism department at the Brazilian Intelligence Agency.

"We have no terrorist cells, but there are certain people who can lend assistance to such groups or aid logistically," he said in an interview with Brazilian news site G1 on Thursday.

Brazil's counter terrorist strategy for the Games will focus on the danger from "lone wolves".

He said the Intelligence Agency was closely monitoring these 'lone wolfs' who "don't belong to a terrorist group, but share the ideology of Jihad and have contacts".

"We are to host the Olympic Games (from August 5 to 21, 2016), bringing together athletes, high-ranking guests and fans from countries that have become priority targets for terrorists - all this increases the level of threat," said Sallaberry.

Sales of tickets for the 2016 Games will begin in March this year.

Sallaberry said Brazil secret services had timely uncovered terrorist plans for the World Cup it hosted last year, disrupting them.

"Luckily, such incidents were few," he added.

Olympic Games - at Atlanta 1996 and Munich 1972 - have shown that major sporting tournaments are susceptible to the threat of terror attacks.

Seventeen people were killed in France last week in a terror attack. Twelve individuals were killed during an attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Four people died in a shooting in a kosher supermarket and a policewoman was also murdered.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff condemned the attack on the French magazine saying "it is an unacceptable attack on press freedom, a fundamental value of democratic societies".

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