Strong radicalization – IS network blown up in Lower Austria: youngest is only 13!

The head of the network is a criminal who was convicted in March 2023 as the “IS bomber from St. Pölten”. He is currently in custody. The other members of the network are between 13 and 15 years old.

Already sentenced in the summer of 2023
The 20-year-old “IS sprinkler” had already become visible in March 2023 through several IS graffiti in the vicinity of the central station of St. Bashkim B. was sentenced to several months in prison in the summer of 2023 on strong suspicion of supporting a terrorist organization and damaging property.

He didn’t seem to want to learn from his mistakes. Shortly after his release from prison in November 2023, he began recruiting more young people in St. Pölten for IS and indoctrinating the terrorist organization Hamas – responsible for the October 7 attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people as religiously legitimate.

“Massive radicalization” within a very short time
He not only succeeded in winning a total of eight young people between the ages of 13 and 15 to the ideology of the Islamic State, but also in spreading this ideology further. The teenagers have distributed numerous “IS battle nasheeds” and “IS videos”, including execution videos, on the Internet. The aim was to recruit more young people for IS. The young people also did not stop at anti-Semitic propaganda for Hamas and against Israel. Within a very short time, the young suspects were massively radicalized by Bashkim B.

The police investigation was launched after the parents of an association member became concerned about the ongoing radicalization of their son by the 20-year-old head of the network. “The State Bureau for State Security and Combating Extremism takes firm, consistent and emphatic action against any form of extremism. It doesn’t matter whether they are Islamist extremists or right-wing radical idiots,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner emphasizes. During interrogation by the Lower Austrian police, the suspects eventually confessed.

Head of the network “unknown”
In contrast to 20-year-old Bashkim B.: He was arrested on April 2, 2024 and taken to St. Pölten prison. To date, the 20-year-old has not confessed but is considered a strong suspect. Various books, mobile phones and IS rings were seized during a house search. The rings bore the Shahada, an Islamic creed, and the seal of the “Prophet Muhammad.”

In chats and in personal conversations he showed his Islamist, anti-democratic and anti-Western values. He claimed that it would be reprehensible and prohibited to “sympathize with the Austrian state or cooperate with the police.” In early October 2024, 20-year-old Bashkim B. was not legally sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by the St. Pölten Regional Court for membership of a terrorist organization.

Has made a “pledge of allegiance” to IS
The indoctrination of a 15-year-old member of the network went so far that he even became a ‘recruiter’ and recruited other people for IS. His radicalization was also noticeable at school because he dressed conspicuously and no longer accepted female teachers. During an excursion, he is said to have worn an IS ring and made a “pledge of allegiance” to IS via video. At the beginning of October, he was also legally sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence.

Two other 15-year-old members also spread IS propaganda videos on the social network Tiktok, one of whom said during police interrogation that he had “celebrated beheadings and dreamed of flying into buildings in a plane like the September 11, 2001 attacker.” . All three showed particularly aggressive traits of moral protective behavior. With their statements they placed a heavy burden on the twenty-year-old ‘head’ of the network.

All members have already been convicted or are facing criminal charges. Due to his immaturity, the proceedings against the 13-year-old member were quashed.