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Brazilian authorities arrested five officers this week for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government following the 2022 presidential elections and assassinate the incoming president, in a conspiracy aimed at undermining Brazil’s democracy and judicial authority, the Associated Press reported.

The detained officers included four special operations military personnel, one of whom is a retired brigadier general, and another a federal police officer.

On Tuesday, authorities alleged that the suspects planned to kill then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Evidence showed they monitored their targets as early as November 2022 and considered methods such as poison and explosives, officials said.

One operation in December 2022 aimed to capture de Moraes near a parking lot but was aborted at the last moment.

De Moraes – who authorized the arrests – said the actions were part of a broader effort to prevent Lula’s inauguration and destabilize Brazil’s institutions.

Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski said Lula was “shocked” by the scale of the plot, Bloomberg noted.

Among those detained was Mário Fernandes, a retired brigadier general who served in former President Jair Bolsonaro’s cabinet until the end of his term.

Fernandes allegedly provided financial support to pro-Bolsonaro protest camps and was linked to documents detailing a “Crisis Cabinet” of 11 military officers that would take power after a coup.

Investigators found some documents were printed inside the presidential palace during Bolsonaro’s term.

Lula narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in the October 2022 election, but has faced ongoing unrest from his far-right supporters, including the Jan. 8, 2023 protests when pro-Bolsonaro supporters stormed the main government buildings in the capital Brasília in an attempt to oust Lula a week after his inauguration.

Bolsonaro – who left for the United States before Lula’s January inauguration – is now facing a series of criminal investigations, including for his role in the riots.

Tuesday’s arrests come amid heightened political tensions in Brazil.

Last Wednesday, a man detonated an explosive device outside the Supreme Court, an act that de Moraes attributed to the ongoing surge of far-right attacks and hate speech directed at Brazil’s institutions.

Federal police are treating the incident as an act of terrorism.