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RIO DE JANEIRO, July 18 (Xinhua) -- At least four people alledgedly linked to international terrorism groups have seen their requests for Olympic accreditation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games denied, according to data published in the Brazilian press Monday.
TV Globo said it had received information from the Integrated Anti-Terrorism Center (Ciant), which oversees all accreditation requests for the Games. Allegedly, of the around 460,000 requests fielded by Ciant, at least 11,000 have been refused for a number of reasons.
Of those, 40 people were the subject of police warrants around the world and four had proven links to terror groups, although their names and nationalities remain a secret.
Furthermore, 61 Brazilian requests have been denied as those asking for accreditation had various types of criminal records.
"We carried out an inspection across all national databases. We also shared information with our global partners," Andrei Passos Rodrigues, the national security coordinator for the Rio Games, told TV Globo.
Ciant is also monitoring Rio round the clock, focusing on areas such as sports venues, training sites and official hotels.
Ciant is jointly formed by Brazil, the U.S., Spain, France, the UK, Argentina, Belgium and Paraguay.
Accreditation requests for the 2016 Olympics have reached 460,000 so far, topping the 450,000 seen in London 2012 and the 350,000 received for the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
Following the terrorist attack in Nice, France on July 14, the Brazilian government has announced a ramp-up in security with over 85,000 military, police and security operatives to be deployed during the Games.
