SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian police said yesterday they had arrested a foreigner for inciting racial hatred on the Internet, but declined to comment on a newspaper report that the man was a high-ranking al Qaeda member.
Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest daily newspaper, said the man was suspected of being a communications operative in the radical Islamic group and his arrest was being treated with secrecy by the federal police.
US authorities had been notified of the arrest, the report said.
Asked about the report at a news conference, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said it appeared police had received allegations against the suspect from outside Brazil.
“We still have no conclusion to accuse the person for whatever it may be,” Lula said in the northeastern city of Salvador, noting that he had been briefed on the case.
A spokeswoman for the federal police in Brasilia said the police were not confirming the report nor any link between the suspect and al Qaeda.
Federal police said in a statement that a foreign resident in Brazil was arrested on April 26 for spreading racist content on the Internet using a social networking site. They said the police would not comment further on the case.
