Terror investigation in Lower Austria

IS “internet warriors” at large and on vacation

Videos and images with IS content were posted on internet platforms.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/LPD NÖ/LSE NÖ, stock.adobe.com)

The seized cell phones are piled up at the investigators' table. Their contents will determine what happens to the three young Lower Austrians who have come into the crosshairs of the state security service for spreading IS propaganda. All three are currently at large.

"It is still written in the stars what we will find", the investigators can currently only speculate as to who the three young Lower Austrians were who were caught in the net, who made out to be big "IS warriors" on the internet. At present, they can "only" be accused of spreading Islamist propaganda through postings. "There is currently no suspicion of an attack", they say. This is why the 19-year-old woman from St. Pölten and the two boys (16, 17) from the district of Tulln are currently still at large - the former is even on home leave in Chechnya. Will they even return voluntarily? That is currently assumed. She is well rooted here.

Austrians who converted to Islam
It is still unclear whether the trio know each other. The data from the cell phones should also answer this question. No connection is currently assumed. What is clear, however, is that both boys were born in Austria and have recently converted to Islam. Only the interrogations will show why. But before that, countless gigabytes of data have to be combed through - some have more than one cell phone. "It can take a month to get through that," say investigators. Only then is it the lawyers' turn.

It is time to admit that St. Pölten has an integration problem.

St. Pöltens ÖVP-Klubobmann Florian Krumböck

The two young people face up to five years in prison on suspicion of membership of a terrorist group or criminal organization, while the woman from St. Pölten faces up to ten years due to her age. The boys were also banned from carrying weapons. "Due to the risk assessment", said a spokesperson for the regional police directorate.

Lower Austria again at the center of the investigation
Following the thwarted attack plans on the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna, Lower Austria is once again the focus of investigators with the arrest of the suspected mastermind from Ternitz. Reports are now submitted to the public prosecutor's office around 60 times a year between Enns and Leitha alone - from simple postings to specific threats. And the trend is rising! 

It's hardly surprising that these propaganda cases are becoming a political plaything. St. Pölten's ÖVP party leader Florian Krumböck criticizes the fact that the provincial capital is once again at the center of investigations into religious extremists. "It is time to admit that St. Pölten has an integration problem", he says, citing failures on the part of the red city government. "Unfortunately, an integration summit was rejected at the time," laments Krumböck.

"Disgusting ideologies" and "swamps"
The SPÖ, on the other hand, continues to call for a law banning radical Islamism. "Because it is unacceptable that radical Islamists are inciting hatred against 'infidels' and women's rights online. That is why the very promotion of this abhorrent ideology must be banned," says SPÖ-NÖ security spokesperson Kathrin Schindele.

"Drain this swamp immediately", demands FPÖ state deputy leader Udo Landbauer. "We have to take tough action against it and also tackle the causes: an immediate ban on asylum, an end to false tolerance and tough deportations," he said.