IS terrorist Lorenz K., who has been sentenced to nine years in prison, could spend even more time behind bars in the fall. As reported, the 24-year-old in prison would have further planned the attack and also encouraged other sympathizers in their faith. K. had formed a veritable ‘terrorist cell’ during his stay in various prisons.
Precisely because the 24-year-old has been in custody since January 2017, he has had close and personal contact with other terrorists in several prisons. He met Sergo P. in Stein Prison. The radical Islamist from Georgia had already been convicted of terrorist offenses twice – the first time in 2015 by the Vienna Regional Court for wanting to travel to Syria with his wife and mother to join IS as a fighter, and again in 2017 of the Korneuburg Regional Court. In the Hirtenberg correctional facility, Sergo P. is said to have tried via smartphone to incite IS sympathizers who were free at the end of 2019 to commit terrorist attacks on the Christmas markets in Vienna and Salzburg. The plans were foiled, Sergo P. was transferred to the maximum security prison in Stein.
Transfer after intensive contact with jihadist
His cell there was next to the Austrian’s cell. The two became friends through countless walks in the garden and conversations through the cell windows. They even shared an illegally obtained mobile phone, as the BVT – the predecessor of the DSN – discovered later. K. wanted to hide the mobile phone in the genital area when he and his cell were searched for banned mobile phones after it was noticed that two well-known IS representatives had become real friends in prison.
To prevent this Islamist exchange of views, K. was transferred to Graz in January 2020. In the Karlau penitentiary, K. worked as a housekeeper – apparently forming a kind of ‘terrorist cell’ with two other domestic servants. On the one hand, he met Nino K. (33), who had several criminal records and was serving a long prison sentence for attempted murder and robbery, and who turned out to be a supporter of IS. K. sent him an IS propaganda video via WhatsApp, explaining that you don’t need weapons to “devastate damage (…)”. On the other hand, K. came across Abdelkarim Abu H., who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Krems Regional Court for attempted murder and participation in a terrorist organization – namely Hamas.
State protection continues to classify K. as a “dangerous person”.
Here, too, K. had an illegal mobile phone and H. asked a third person to take an oath of allegiance to the former IS ‘caliph’ Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Kuraishi. But that is not everything. K. would have given ‘lifelong’ instructions on how to make bombs. During a search of H.’s cell in early August 2020, electronic components and four cartridge cases from a long gun were found, which he probably used to build an explosive device.
K. enjoys a kind of cult status among IS sympathizers, and not only in Austria, but at least in the entire German-speaking world. Although he has been in prison for years, the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) continues to classify him as a supposedly dangerous person.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
