VIENNA (Reuters) – A plot to hold out an assault at a Taylor Swift live performance in Vienna was foiled on Sunday, with the principle suspect’s lawyer attempting to downplay the seriousness of the plan, saying her consumer was simply “enjoying with concepts”.
Three of Swift’s deliberate concert events this week have been canceled as Austrian authorities found a plot allegedly masterminded by a 19-year-old to hold out an ISIS-inspired suicide assault at a soccer stadium the place tens of 1000’s of followers have been planning Watch the present there.
Austrian investigators say the younger man just lately swore to affix the Islamic State and made a full confession after police raided his home and seized chemical substances, machetes and different units the plotters deliberate to make use of within the bomb assaults. .
Lawyer Ina-Christin Stiglitz advised Reuters the younger man had solely turn into concerned with ISIS up to now month.
“It intrigued him,” she mentioned, suggesting her consumer did not actually intend to hold out a severe assault.
“It’s simply enjoying with concepts,” she mentioned. “He mentioned the bomb wasn’t ok and would not work.”
She added that he researched make bombs on-line.
Austrian police detained three different youngsters as a part of the investigation, together with a 17-year-old whom Stiglitz mentioned her consumer referred to as her “greatest pal and neighbor.”
Neighbors of the 19-year-old man within the small city of Ternitz expressed shock at his arrest, describing him as reserved however pleasant. They mentioned one of many few indicators that he could be radicalized was his current development of a protracted beard.
In response to questions on why he modified his look, his lawyer mentioned: “He needed to be cool.”
Chancellor Karl Nehammer mentioned earlier that Austria’s intelligence companies ought to have better powers to observe communications on messaging apps to cease extremists.
