Rio short of 2,500 crucial security guards to defend against terrorist just DAYS before Games begin

by Nick Parker (feat. Robert Muggah)

The Sun
July 31, 2016

With just five days to the opening ceremony, desperate organisers are drafting in soldiers and retired cops to fill posts.

The shambles emerged as al-Qaeda kingpin Abu Wa’el Dhiab went off radar amid fears he is heading to Brazil.

The ex-Guantanamo Bay inmate disappeared with five other former lags in neighbouring Uruguay last month.

Terror expert Peter Martin said: “He is a confirmed part of a terrorist organisation that has already demonstrated willingness to attack.”

Screening plans for Olympic venues collapsed after Artel won the £4million contract just weeks ago.

It had no previous experience securing major sporting events and did not have the time to recruit and train thousands of £7-a-day staff.

t echoes London 2012 when G4S failed to take on enough security screeners and the Army stepped in.

Rio officials have mostly drafted in old cops to pat down visitors and man screening kit.

Some 41,000 troops are already committed to protecting the troubled games.

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said Artel will be fined.

Dhiab is thought to have attended the same terror training camp as the 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta.

He was freed from Guantanamo in 2014 after 12 years and was resettled in Uruguay.

Brazil’s Federal Police have arrested 12 IS fanatics thought to be plotting an attack.

One suspect allegedly wrote: “The Olympics are our opportunity to reach paradise.”

Robert Muggah, a security researcher in Rio said: “Brazilian intelligence officials have now begun to take the threat of Islamists far more seriously”.

Terror concerns emerged as crime-plagued Brazil faced charges of hosting the most shambolic Olympic Games in history.

Rotting corpses have been spotted floating at the rat-­infested sailing and wind-surfing venue as officials try to clean it up before the opening ceremony.

Athletes have been robbed at gunpoint and even allegedly kidnapped by gangs of rogue cops on the streets of Rio, where local government has collapsed amid an economic crisis.

The Olympians’ “Disneyland for Athletes” accommodation has also rendered virtually uninhabitable by a putrid open sewer gushing through the village.

And athletes and fans have been also been warned to guard against mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus around the host city.