Brazilian police arrest five in alleged plot to kill president Lula and stage coup

Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty festival in Rio de Janeiro

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian police on Tuesday arrested five people suspected of involvement in an alleged coup attempt in which they planned to kill then president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his vice-president weeks before they took office, police said.

The arrests were the first time in the investigation that federal police have mentioned a plot to kill Lula and Geraldo Alckmin, his choice as vice-president.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and Luana Maria Benedito in Sao Paulo, Editing by Angus MacSwan)