Jair Bolsonaro claims ‘psychotic attack’ made him tamper with ankle monitor

Brazil's former president says he took a soldering iron to electronic tag as he was hallucinating that it was bugged

Brazil's far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he took a soldering iron to his electronic ankle monitor after having a substance-induced psychotic attack" that caused him to hallucinate that the device was bugged.

Bolsonaro made the claim during a custody hearing on Sunday, 24 hours after he was arrested at his home in the capital, Brasilia, amid suspicions he was planning to abscond to a foreign embassy to avoid being sent to jail to serve a 27-year sentence for masterminding a failed coup.