After the Swift terror, experts warn: “threats” are getting younger

Eavesdropping on courier services, which is not permitted in Austria, could have led more quickly to the trail of the main suspect in connection with an allegedly foiled terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert scheduled for August 9, 2024 at the Ernst Happel Stadium. certain. This is evident from the latest findings that became known this weekend in the proceedings of the Viennese public prosecutor’s office against the 19-year-old from Ternitz (Neunkirchen district) in Lower Austria.

DSN had no terrorist teenagers on their radar
The Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN) did not have the violent supporter of the radical Islamist terrorist militia ‘Islamic State’ on its radar when he and two other young men discussed attack plans from February 2024 and traveled to Dubai in March.

There he apparently intended to stab a soldier in front of a mosque at the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan and then ‘shoot people in the area’ with his revolver, he later revealed according to an interrogation report from which the ‘Krone’ quoted last weekend. But then he lost his courage. He said he decided against an attack “at the last minute” because he feared “he would die in a hail of police bullets and have to suffer.”

Swift suspect was probably part of a network
The 19-year-old traveled back to Austria without having achieved anything and after some time allegedly started preparations to protect as many fans of the pop singer as possible in or in front of the Happel Stadium on behalf of IS. case of a terrorist attack during a Swift performance to kill. The DSN only learned of this on August 2 thanks to a tip from the FBI. After a short but intensive investigation, the man was arrested on August 7.

It has now been established that the 19-year-old was part of a terrorist network that probably consisted of more than a dozen IS supporters. One of them was a 20-year-old from Lower Austria who carried out his attack plans and stabbed and seriously injured five people in front of the Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca on March 11, 2024. The Lower Austrian has since been held in custody in Saudi Arabia.

The DSN had demonstrably already had the 20-year-old on its radar, with whom the 19-year-old had exchanged ideas in the weeks before the attacks they both planned simultaneously in Mecca and Dubai. Experts therefore assume that after the attack in Mecca, if conversations in the 20-year-old’s environment had been tapped, the young man from Ternitz would have been identified well before the summer and his bloody intentions could possibly have been revealed at an early stage. be discontinued.

Islamic threats are getting younger
There are currently triple-digit numbers of so-called Islamic extremism threats in Austria who must be trusted to carry out attack plans. They are getting younger and younger – some are not yet 14 years old and therefore not criminally responsible, but they bring their ideology and the associated willingness to use violence to schools. For example, last year a ten-year-old was removed from custody and handed over to child protection after being told he was a danger. Due to the age of his child, he could not be held criminally responsible.

Those familiar with the matter therefore consider it essential to expand prevention work in schools and other social institutions. For young Islamists who are already known to authorities and have experience of imprisonment, intensive police and social work support would be needed after their release from prison to achieve deradicalization and long-term reintegration into society. However, there is currently a lack of financial and human resources in many places.

This country is currently at the second highest terror alert level. Recently, major events and the Vienna ball season have been mentioned as potential targets for attack.