According to an intelligence agency report released on Thursday, two adolescents were detained in Austria for allegedly planning to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna with the intention of killing many people.
A 19-year-old IS sympathizer was among the detainees seized for plotting a suicide assault in which he intended to kill other people in addition to himself.
The two suspects were reportedly intending to target the American celebrity’s concerts in Vienna this week, which the organizers abruptly canceled, according to Austrian authorities, who said the suspects were taken into custody on Wednesday.
Domestic intelligence agency (DSN) head Omar Haijawi-Pirchner told a news conference that the key suspect, a 19-year-old who has not been named, has confessed and “intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives.”
“He intended to take many lives during the concert—either today or tomorrow—and kill himself as well,” he continued. There were scheduled concerts from Thursday through Saturday.
According to Haijawi-Pirchner, the second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian, worked for a facility management company that would have “provided services” at the Ernst Happel Stadium, the location of Swift’s performance.
He also mentioned that the younger suspect was “in the area” of the stadium where he was being held. The younger suspect has resisted speaking with officials thus far.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner declared that a “tragedy was averted.” “The situation was very serious,” he continued, mentioning the recent British attack at a Taylor Swift-themed event that resulted in the deaths of three girls.
Authorities said that during a check of the primary suspect’s apartment, explosives and detonators were discovered.
Franz Ruf, Austria’s senior security official, revealed to media that the two suspects had changed their personal life recently.
While the second suspect, an Austrian of Turkish or Croatian descent, had split up with his fiancée, the primary suspect, an Austrian with origins in Northern Macedonia, had altered “his appearance and adapted it to Islamic State propaganda,” the source claimed.
Ruf had already acknowledged that the arrests were the result of information obtained by the authorities “from foreign partners,” albeit he would not say exactly what.
Despite reducing any actual risk and promising to increase security for the concerts, Swift’s shows were canceled by the organizers. For each event, about 65,000 attendees were projected.
Although she stated she was “completely in shock” following the British assault, Taylor Swift refrained from commenting on the decision to cancel the Vienna gigs right away. The American singer-inspired dance lesson in Southport resulted in a mass stabbing that left three girls dead and five others critically injured.
Ruf claims that although authorities “did everything humanly possible to ensure” that the Vienna concerts “could go ahead,” the organizers ultimately decided to cancel.
The 34-year-old celebrity was scheduled to arrive in Vienna on Thursday as part of her historic “Eras” Tour, which started its European leg in May in Paris.
The tour then stopped in Sweden, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Poland after France.
The news agency APA estimated that about 170,000 attendees were anticipated for the events in Austria, generating over 100 million euros in revenue.
“Eras” is expected to sell over twice as many tickets by the time it wraps up in Vancouver in December, making it the first tour to do so before the end of the year.
In November 2020, a convicted IS sympathiser went on a shooting spree in Vienna, Austria, which resulted in four fatalities and 23 injuries before the shooter was shot and killed by police. This was Austria’s first deadly jihadist incident.
