Iran-backed Hezbollah recruits convicted criminals in Brazil, exploiting their economic hardship and resentment of the justice system to build covert terrorist networks targeting Jewish communities and Israeli interests throughout Latin America.
According to an analysis by the Washington Institute, Operation Trapiche in Brazil, launched in November 2023 with the assistance of the Israeli Mossad, revealed a recruitment and financing network. Recruits with no previous Hezbollah connections were sent to Lebanon for training before returning to Brazil to conduct surveillance on potential targets.
One suspect, Lucas Passos Lima, traveled to Lebanon twice in 2023 before photographing three synagogues, a Jewish cemetery, the Israeli embassy and a rabbi in the Brasilia area. Investigators also uncovered evidence of weapons training, surveillance equipment and secret communications through unsent email drafts.
Brazilian tobacco businesses financed trips to Beirut, while a separate investigation implicated Sao Paulo cryptocurrency broker Dante Filippini in setting up digital wallets for Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He faces charges of money laundering and terrorist financing.
The Brazilian federal prosecutor, Lucas Gualtieri, warned that recruiting criminals motivated by money rather than ideology could allow Hezbollah to disguise terrorist acts as ordinary crimes, and obscure the organization's involvement.