After the Swift terror

Experts warn: “Gefährder” are getting younger and younger

The second-highest terror alert level currently applies in this country. Most recently, major events and the Vienna ball season were named as potential targets.

(Bild: zVg)

The 19-year-old Beran A. is said to have planned a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert - as part of an IS network. Earlier monitoring of his chats would probably have exposed him more quickly. Experts are therefore calling for stricter preventative measures. There are currently three-digit numbers of so-called "Gefährder" in Austria.

The monitoring of messenger services, which is not permitted in Austria, could probably have led more quickly to the trail of the main suspect under investigation in connection with a suspected foiled terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert planned for August 9, 2024 at the Ernst Happel Stadium. This is shown by the latest findings that became known at the weekend in the proceedings of the Vienna public prosecutor's office against the 19-year-old from Ternitz (district of Neunkirchen) in Lower Austria.

DSN did not have terror teen on its radar
The Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) did not have the violent supporter of the radical Islamist terror militia "Islamic State" on its radar when he and two other young men discussed plans for an attack 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 at people in the vicinity" with his revolver, as he later revealed in an interrogation report quoted by Die Krone last weekend. But then he lost his courage. He decided against an attack "at the last moment" because he feared "dying in a hail of police bullets and having to suffer as a result", he stated.

The 19-year-old and two of his fellow believers had decided to carry out simultaneous attacks in three countries at the beginning of 2024. One of their planned terrorist attacks in Mecca actually took place.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/hikrcn - stock.adobe.com)

Beran A. with one of his many knives - Taylor Swift canceled her concert after the terror warning.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP und zVg)

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

It is now considered certain that the 19-year-old was part of a terror network, which is believed to have consisted of over 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 been in custody in Saudi Arabia ever since.

The 20-year-old, with whom the 19-year-old had been in contact in the weeks before the attacks in Mecca and Dubai, which were planned by both of them at the same time, was demonstrably already on DSN's radar. Experts therefore assume that after the attack in Mecca, monitoring chats in the 20-year-old's circle would have revealed the young man from Ternitz well before the summer and could possibly have prevented his bloody intentions at an early stage.

Experts agree: the attack in Mecca could have been prevented by monitoring chats.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

Islamist terrorists are getting younger and younger
There are currently a three-digit number of so-called Islamist extremists in Austria who can be expected to carry out attack plans. They are getting younger and younger - some of them are not yet 14 and therefore not even of criminal age, but they carry their ideology and the associated willingness to use violence into schools. Last year, for example, a ten-year-old was taken off the streets and handed over to the youth welfare service after a dangerous speech. Due to his young age, he could not be held criminally responsible.

Experts in the field therefore consider it essential to expand prevention work in schools and other social institutions. For young Islamists who are already known to be in prison and have experience of imprisonment, close police and social work support would be necessary after release from prison in order to achieve long-term deradicalization and reintegration into society. However, there is currently a lack of financial and human resources for this in many places.

The second-highest terror alert level currently applies in this country. Most recently, major events and the Vienna ball season were named as potential targets.