RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Weeks ahead of Brazil’s presidential election, police on Tuesday carried out search warrants targeting several business leaders who allegedly participated in a private chat group that included comments favoring a possible coup and military involvement in politics.

The search and seizure warrants were issued by a Supreme Court justice who heads the nation’s electoral authority, according to a statement from the federal police. They were aimed at prominent supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro, according to two of the people whose properties were searched and a source with knowledge of the operation.

Many of the comments were speculative and appeared to reflect personal opinion rather than a coordinated effort to undermine Brazilian democracy. However, they fed into national jitters over whether Bolsonaro’s unsubstantiated allegations that the electoral system is vulnerable to fraud were laying the groundwork for an illegal power grab if the vote doesn’t go his way.

The first round of the election is on Oct. 2, with a possible runoff on Oct. 30.

According to the source with knowledge of the searches, the warrants target eight businessmen who appeared in a story last week on news site Metropoles, which published screenshots from their chat group on private messaging app WhatsApp. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Many of the executives appearing in the Aug. 17 Metropoles story have since said they support democracy, and allies of Bolsonaro immediately decried the operation as judicial overreach.

In 2018, Bolsonaro's swift rise from fringe lawmaker to presidential candidate was turbocharged by automated WhatsApp messages companies sent to voters en masse.

In addition to issuing the search warrants, Justice Alexandre de Moraes determined the businessmen’s social media accounts be blocked and their bank accounts frozen, online news site G1 reported. De Moraes also lifted seals on their banking records and authorized federal police to take their depositions, the site reported.

“This is clearly an operation to intimidate any prominent figure from taking a political stand for Bolsonaro or against the left,” Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s son and a federal lawmaker, said on Twitter. “This is an attack on democracy in the midst of an electoral campaign. Censorship. There's no other word!"

In its Aug. 17 story, Metropoles said it had been monitoring the WhatsApp group titled “Businessmen & Politics” for months. It reproduced messages allegedly sent by owners of a popular restaurant chain, shopping malls and construction companies, among others, expressing their allegiance to Bolsonaro and backing the president's claims that the judicial system is working against him. Some highlighted the benefits of authoritarian governance models.

“I prefer a coup to the return of the Workers’ Party. A million times more,” one of the members is seen saying on a published screenshot, referring to da Silva’s leftist party. “And certainly no one will stop doing business with Brazil. As they do with several dictatorships around the world.”

The AP was not able to confirm the authenticity of the screenshots.

Bolsonaro has claimed that the electronic voting machines Brazil has used since the mid-1990s are prone to fraud, without providing any evidence. He has also said some members of the electoral authority are favoring former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who leads all polls to return to the job he held from 2003 to 2010.

The Supreme Court said in an email that de Moraes' decision to issue the warrants is under seal. The brief police statement mentioned eight warrants in five states.

Among the targeted executives is Luciano Hang, owner of Brazilian retailer Havan and a fervent Bolsonaro supporter, several news outlets including newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported. On his official Twitter account, Hang said the Metropoles story was “irresponsible” and had created a fake narrative: “I never talked about a coup.”

Other members of the group were more talkative. “If the side that we defend is victorious, the blood of the victims becomes the blood of heroes!” one executive wrote.

Another expressed interest in the executives granting bonuses to their employees who vote for Bolsonaro, before another member informed him this would probably constitute vote buying.

Several members backed Bolsonaro’s promise for a large military parade on Sept. 7 Independence Day along Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach. “I want to see if the Supreme Court has the courage to rig the elections after a military parade ... with the troops applauded by the public,” one wrote.

The parade will “make it clear which side the Army is on,” another said.

Rio's Mayor Eduardo Paes has said the military won't parade, but rather hold a “limited” display there.