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Brazilian police arrest teenager in thwarted school attack

Published:Monday | February 13, 2023 | 9:32 PM
Sao Paulo police said the 17-year-old was arrested with explosives and a hatchet.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Police in Brazil arrested a teenager accused of trying to attack a school with explosives while wearing a Nazi armband Monday in a small city outside Sao Paulo.

No one was injured in the incident in Monte Mor, a municipality of 56,000 residents about 120 kilometres or 75 miles northwest of Sao Paulo, the city hall said in a statement.

Sao Paulo police said the 17-year-old was arrested with explosives and a hatchet, and that he had been filmed removing these items from a car parked outside the school.

Police also said they seized an airsoft gun and Nazi propaganda at the teenager's home.

The Monte Mor city government published a photo of the suspect wearing a Nazi armband when he was arrested.

School attacks are uncommon in the South American nation, but have happened with somewhat greater frequency in recent years.

On November 26, a former student armed with a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver killed four people and wounded 12 in two schools in the small town of Aracruz in Espirito Santo state in southeastern Brazil.

He had a swastika pinned to his vest and had been planning the attacks for two years, police said.

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