VIENNA, 8 Aug.A 19-year-old suspect in planning a terrorist attack during one of the concerts of American pop singer Taylor Swift in Vienna has admitted his guilt, he intended to attack people outside the stadium and then commit suicide, a total of three people have been detained in the case, representatives of the Interior Ministry and the state intelligence department of the republic said during a press conference on Thursday.
Earlier, the Austrian event organizer Barracuda Music reported that three upcoming concerts of Swift in Vienna were cancelled after security forces reported plans to commit a terrorist attack. The Interior Ministry of the republic told journalists on Wednesday that a 19-year-old Austrian was detained in the Austrian city of Ternitz, who is suspected of planning a terrorist attack during a major event in Vienna, and more arrests were made in the same case on the same day. 
< br />«The 19-year-old main suspect… has confessed,» Franz Ruf, head of the republic's Interior Ministry's public safety department, told reporters on Thursday. Law enforcement officials believe that the suspect planned to attack a large crowd at one of the concerts and then commit suicide. It is specified that his plans included an attack using stabbing and cutting weapons, as well as making a bomb; explosives were being prepared in Ternitz.
«
«His plan was to kill people outside the stadium,» Omar Hayawi-Pirchner, head of the State Security and Intelligence Directorate, said at a press conference. He also added that the suspect did not have a ticket to the concert. According to the director, the tip-off about the 19-year-old suspect came from a foreign intelligence service. «During yesterday's search of the house, we seized chemicals, liquids, explosives and technical equipment that could be used to make explosives,» the director added.
Law enforcement officials clarified that the second person detained in the case is a 17-year-old teenager who worked for a company that was supposed to provide services at the stadium where the concert was planned on Thursday evening. According to Hayavi-Pirchner, the teenager was found to have materials from the terrorist group ISIS* and Al-Qaeda*. The third person detained is 15 years old, and his answers during interrogation confirmed the investigators' findings. Hayavi-Pirchner added that an investigation is also currently underway into several accomplices and possible accomplices.
Taylor Swift's Eras tour concerts were scheduled to take place in Vienna on August 8, 9 and 10 at the Ernst Happel Stadium.
Vienna police spokesman Gerhard Pürstl previously clarified that up to 65,000 spectators were expected at each of Swift's upcoming concerts in Vienna. In addition, according to him, another 15-20 thousand fans of the artist could have gathered outside the stadium.
* A terrorist group banned in Russia.
Свежие комментарии