Terror threat at Taylor Swift’s Vienna concerts: Who are the ‘ISIS-inspired’ teen suspects?

In a dramatic turn of events, Austrian authorities foiled a terror plot targeting Taylor Swift’s concert in its capital Vienna, resulting in the arrest of three teenage suspects.

The 19-year-old suspect was described by officials as having been “clearly radicalised in the direction of the Islamic State” and had intended to commit violence against “infidels,” Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the domestic intelligence agency said at a news conference.

The terror threat led to the cancellation of three sold-out Taylor Swift Eras Tour concerts, which were scheduled to begin Thursday at the stadium and were expected to draw an estimated 170,000 fans aka “Swifties."

Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner addressed the gravity of the situation at a news conference, and said, “The situation was serious, the situation is serious. But we can also say: A tragedy was prevented. Large concerts are often a target of Islamist attacks."

More from Explainers

How ChatGPT is becoming everyone’s BFF and why that’s dangerous This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal

This incident sent shockwaves through both the pop music world and security circles, leading to arrests of teen suspects. Here’s what we know about them.

Who are the suspects?

The most chilling detail of the plot revolves around the prime suspect, a 19-year-old.

The teen was arrested on Wednesday morning from his home in the eastern town of Ternitz where investigators unearthed a stockpile of chemicals, explosive devices, detonators, and 21,000 euros in counterfeit cash.

They also found hoarded knives, machetes, blank cartridges, and a police blue flashing light, possibly to gain access to the scene of his planned attack.

The 19-year-old, who is an Austrian national with North Macedonian roots, made a full confession in custody, general director for public security Franz Ruf told reporters in a news conference.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

Ghaziabad woman dead, pilgrims attacked in bus… How Nepal’s Gen-Z protests turned into a living hell for Indian tourists

Were bodyguards involved in Charlie Kirk’s shooting? The many conspiracies surrounding the killing

According to Haijawi-Pirchner, the teen said he intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives and had the “aim was to kill himself and a large number of people during the concert, either today (Wednesday) or tomorrow.”

According to Austria’s Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner, the teen allegedly stole the chemicals from his former employer, a local metalworking firm, with the aim of building an explosive. He quit the job on 25 July, reportedly saying: “I’m planning something big.”

Karner added that the suspect had started watching jihadist propaganda videos, from which he learned how to build a bomb. One neighbour told Austrian broadcaster Puls24 that the suspect had kept to himself and had grown a “Taliban beard."

Authorities also detained two other suspects, aged 17 and 15.

Just days before Taylor Swift’s performance, the 17-year-old had reportedly secured a job with a facilities company that was to provide services at the concert venue at Ernst Happel Stadium, revealed Haijawi-Pirchner.

He added investigator found Islamic State and Al Qaeda material at the home of the 17-year-old Austrian citizen with Turkish and Croatian roots. The teen, who had recently broken up with his girlfriend, was arrested near the venue and was suspected of planning to detonate a bomb amidst the crowd.

Little has been revealed about the 15-year-old, an Austrian national with Turkish roots. According to AP, the 15-year-old had been in contact with both suspects and is currently being interrogated by the police.

Prosecutors will decide later if he was a witness or directly involved in the alleged plot, reported CNN.

The trio were in contact with other individuals who knew about the plan, Ruf told the American news agency. No one else is being sought in direct connection with the plot, he added.

The arrest of the suspects “minimised the threat situation from this small group,” but there was still “abstract danger” that security forces were taking seriously, the top security chief told The Guardian.

Austria has been on high alert since the 7 October Hamas attacks in Israel, when it lifted its warning level to four, the second highest.

Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor of Lower Austria told The Guardian that Swift, as a global popstar and role model for young women and girls, “symbolises our western values, and these have been attacked”. She said the cancellation of the concerts was “understandable but also a success for radical Islamists”.

What next?

Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour is set to continue.

The pop sensation is scheduled to perform at London’s Wembley stadium in five concerts between Aug. 15 and 20 to close the European leg of the Eras Tour.

Despite the high profile of these events, Diana Johnson, the UK’s policing minister, assured LBC radio that there have been no notable threats reported. She stated, “Clearly the police will be looking at all the intelligence and making decisions; they risk-assess every event that happens in this country.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan echoed the sentiment, noting, “We’re going to carry on.” He highlighted England’s hard-learned lessons from a tragic 2017 bombing at an Ariana Grande concert that claimed 22 lives.

With input from agencies