Rio 2016 : Olympic security chief attacked after opening ceremony before knife-wielding robber shot dead by police
Portugal's minister of education was robbed as he headed back to his hotel in the South American city as it emerged the Olympic security chief had also been attacked after the opening ceremony
The Rio 2016 Olympic games have been rocked by more trouble after it emerged the Olympic security chief had been attacked after he left the opening ceremony.
The Olympics security chief was attacked as he left the Games opening ceremony by a knife-wielding robber who was shot dead by a cop.
Felipe Seixas was walking to his car near the Maracanã Stadium early on Saturday when he was set upon by four men brandishing knives.
A policeman with him shot one of the assailants dead and the others fled.
Authorities have attempted to hush up details of the shooting, which is a monumental embarrassment to crime-plagued Rio 2016 bosses.
The security chief himself became a mugging target after committing 10,000 security forces to protect the extravaganza.
Robbers pounced after spectators had left the glittering showpiece event starring supermodel Gisele Bündchen and runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, who lit the Olympic flame.
The president’s chief of staff Eliseu Padilha had promised the curtain raising spectacular - attended by 40 world leaders - had security unprecedented in the history of Brazil.
Seixas is a senior official in Brazil’s federal police, which performs a similar role to the FBI. He was seconded to a federal body formed to protect the Olympics.
The dead robber was named as Ronaldo Fagner Marques de Souza, 22, who had criminal convictions for theft and drug dealing.
Meanwhile Portugal's Minister of Education was robbed at knifepoint as he headed back to his hotel from the Olympic cycling road race.
He and aide Rita Roque were forced to hand over cash and mobiles
The mugger fled after taking their valuables but was intercepted by locals who held him until police arrived and reunited the visiting politician and his advisor with their belongings.
It is thought an accomplice managed to get away empty-handed.
Ms Roque, who described the weapon the mugger used as a “domestic knife”, admitted: “It was a bit of a fright but we’re both okay.”
Before being taken to a police station to be fingerprinted, he had to be treated in hospital for injuries he suffered at the hands of the angry locals who stopped him fleeing the scene of his crime.
Local reports said he had tried to bribe the officers who arrested him by offering them the equivalent of £1200 to avoid being taken into custody.
The detainee was held overnight in a police station before being transferred to Rio’s notorious Bangu prison.
Brandao was described as being well-known to police.
He had been on parole for the past year after serving time for drugs trafficking.
His wife Lidiane Aguiar, who made an unsuccessful attempt to see him at the police station where he was held overnight, said: “He was desperate because he couldn’t manage to find work.
“We are living in a rented property and our situation is very difficult."
Mr Rodrigues’ aide said the minister, the official Olympic attache for the Portuguese Mission to the London 2012 Olympics and a former Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK, would not be commenting.
So far the games have been dogged by security fears and petty crime.
Police and army bomb disposal experts raced to Copacabana after terrified members of the public reported seeing what could be an explosive device in the road.
Just moments later, it was reported that a second security scare had been sparked when a series of unauthorised drones made their way to the Olympic stadium.
Source: Mirror
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