State security struck

Knife and “terror training”: 18-year-old in custody

Cobra and LSE were deployed to take the dangerous youngster out of circulation. (archive picture)

(Bild: Christian Schulter, Krone KREATIV)

Religiously motivated bodily harm, Islamist propaganda material and a kitchen knife under the mattress, suspected training for an explosives attack - in western Styria, state security has taken an 18-year-old with highly dangerous development out of circulation.

The young man, a Viennese from a difficult background with a criminal record, had been living in Styria for two years. After serving a six-month unconditional prison sentence, he was to be re-socialized in accommodation there for five years. Initially, the process went without any particular anomalies, but at the end of 2023 those close to him noticed "a change in his character", the police said on Friday. The 18-year-old had actively turned to Islam "and radicalized very strongly in the direction of Islamism".

Exercises with dummy explosives?
This was reflected in his appearance and behavior. He had grown a beard and shaved his upper lip, and "clearly imposed his opinions and beliefs on other people", reports police spokesman Heimo Kohlbacher. In the summer, the teenager, who according to the police had previously been unathletic, also took up a dubious "training" program: He demonstratively strapped a chest strap equipped with water bottles around his upper body and went running with it - comparisons with explosive belts used by terrorists are obvious.

The youth has been in custody in Graz-Jakomini prison since October.

(Bild: Juergen Radspieler)

The 18-year-old finally set alarm bells ringing with two incidents in August and early September: firstly, he allegedly committed a "religiously motivated assault" on a young Muslim who was also staying in the accommodation. According to the investigators, the suspect was of the opinion that his victim "did not conform to the Islamic faith". Shortly afterwards, he asked a former roommate for a pistol.

Kitchen knife under the mattress
By this point at the latest, the state security forces were on fire and had to move quickly: At the beginning of September, the public prosecutor's office in Graz ordered the arrest and a house search in the accommodation in western Styria, as has only now become known. The young man had offered no resistance.

The knife found under the 18-year-old's mattress

(Bild: LPD Stmk)

They quickly made a find on the premises: The officers from the State Office for State Protection and Counter-Extremism (LSE), together with the Cobra task force, seized 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 cell phone. This had also included beheading videos.

Both parents in the drug scene
Police spokesman Kohlbacher reports that the youngster had an extremely difficult upbringing in Vienna: both parents - the father an Afghan citizen, the mother a young Austrian woman - came from the drug scene, and the boy, who had already committed crimes as a child, grew up with his grandparents for a while. At the age of twelve, he then returned to his single mother, who was overwhelmed by the situation, and dropped out of school, which he later also failed to complete.

Police spokesman Kohlbacher points to the extremely difficult childhood and the suspect's early criminal career.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

At 13, he came into contact with the drug scene "as a street kid", and at 14 he himself was the victim of an assault and was severely traumatized as a result. From then on, he always went out on the street armed with a knife. During an argument, he rammed it into the back of another teenager. Because of this and similar incidents, the court had ordered rehabilitation.

Three terror cases that shook the country this year

• Rarely have terror plans caused such a big quake: the foiled attack on pop icon Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna was probably the most explosive case of the year. The approximately 60,000 seats in the Ernst Happel Stadium would have been completely sold out for three concert evenings. As it turned out, the cancellation was justified due to the great danger posed by the suspect: Knives, machetes, a total of 45 grams of the explosive TATP as well as sulphuric acid and other toxic liquids were found in the 19-year-old's parents' house.
• Prior to this, however, there had already been a terror alert in Styria in the first half of 2024. A 15-year-old is said to have threatened to blow up his class at Bruck an der Mur secondary school. The excitement was all the greater because he had already plotted an attack with a 16-year-old colleague the previous year, but the two were still at large despite a legally binding judgment.
• The case of a 14-year-old girl who had targeted Jakominiplatz in Graz and was arrested in May attracted at least as much attention. She had been inspired to join IS online. During a house search, IS propaganda videos and pictures, instructions on how to build bombs and announcements that she also wanted to blow up churches and a police station were found. The 14-year-old has now received a two-year unconditional prison sentence (not legally binding) for her terrifying plans.

"The boy was not without it"
The Viennese has been in custody in Graz-Jakomini prison since October. The LSE is conducting the investigation on behalf of the public prosecutor's office. There is suspicion of attempted terrorist offenses, bodily harm and an attempt to obtain a prohibited weapon. Even if there is no evidence of concrete plans for an attack or membership of a terrorist network for the time being: "This guy was not without his problems," says Kohlbacher.

This is the second shocking case of a radicalized teenager in Styria in a short space of time: it was only at the end of October that a 14-year-old was sentenced to two years' unconditional imprisonment - not legally binding - for plans to carry out an attack on Jakominiplatz.