State security struck – knife and “terror training”: 18-year-old in custody

The young man, a Viennese with a criminal record from a difficult background, had been imprisoned in Styria for two years. There he should be rehabilitated in accommodation. Initially, the process went without any particular deviations, but at the end of 2023, the people around him noticed “a change in personality”, the police said on Friday. The 18-year-old actively turned to Islam “and became very strongly radicalized towards Islamism”.

Dummy explosive exercises?
This was reflected in his appearance and behavior. He “clearly imposed his opinions and beliefs” on other people, police spokesman Heimo Kohlbacher said. In the summer, the youngster, who according to the police was previously unsportsmanlike, also followed a dubious ‘training’: he demonstratively tied a chest strap with water bottles around his upper body – comparisons with explosive belts used by terrorists are obvious.

The 18-year-old ultimately raised alarm bells with two incidents in August and early September: first, he allegedly committed a “religiously motivated physical attack” on a young Muslim who was also staying at the property. The suspect believed that his victim “did not conform to the Islamic faith,” investigators said. Shortly afterwards, he asked a former roommate about a gun.

Kitchen knife under the mattress
At the latest, the state protectors had a fire on the roof and it had to be done quickly: At the beginning of September, the Graz public prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest and a search of the accommodation in Western Styria, as is only now becoming known. The young man offered no resistance.

They quickly found what they were looking for in the building: The agents of the State Office for State Security and Combating Extremism (LSE), together with the Cobra task force, confiscated a kitchen knife with a blade length of 20 centimeters. The 18-year-old had hidden it under his mattress. Furthermore, large amounts of radical propaganda material “in the direction of Salafism” were found on his mobile phone. This also included beheading videos.

Both parents in the drug world
Police spokesman Kohlbacher reports on an extremely difficult upbringing of the youngster in Vienna: Both parents – the father is an Afghan citizen, the mother is a young Austrian – come from the drug environment, the boy, who became a delinquent as a child, grew up for a while with his grandparents. At the age of twelve, he returned to his single mother, who was overwhelmed by the situation, and dropped out of school, which he later did not complete.

At the age of 13, he came into contact with the drug scene as a street child. At the age of 14, he was the victim of an attack and was seriously traumatized as a result. From that moment on he always went out into the street armed with a knife. He rammed this into the back of another young person during an argument. Due to this and similar incidents, the court ordered rehabilitation.

“The man was not without”
The Viennese has been in custody in Graz-Jakomini prison since October. The LSE is conducting the investigation on behalf of the Public Prosecution Service. There is a suspicion of attempted terrorist crimes, physical injury and attempt to obtain a prohibited weapon. Even though there is currently no evidence of concrete attack plans or membership of a terrorist network, “That man was not without it,” says Kohlbacher.

It is the second shocking case of a radicalized young person in Styria in a short time: only at the end of October a 14-year-old was sentenced – not legally binding – to two years of unconditional imprisonment for planning an attack on Jakominiplatz.