‘Terror’ suspect grilled as police carry out raids across Austria
Austrian police raided several addresses early on Saturday as they grilled a suspected Islamic extremist thought to have been planning an attack, authorities said.
“There were several raids on homes in Vienna and Lower Austria [state],” interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck said.
“Material recovered in these searches is now being evaluated ... So far there has only been one arrest, the one which took place yesterday (Friday),” he said.
Today’s case shows ... that Austria, like Europe, has to expect terror situations
The 18-year-old man arrested on Friday evening in Vienna was meanwhile being questioned, Konrad Kogler, national security chief, said on public radio.
“It is possible more raids and arrests will take place, depending on what comes out of the enquiry,” Kogler said.
Austria’s interior minister had said Friday that the man was an Austrian citizen from the Albanian minority and that indications of possible links to Islamic extremists were being investigated.
Wolfgang Sobotka added there were “leads suggesting that he may not be alone but that a larger network could be behind him”.
A police spokeswoman said signs had multiplied in “recent days” that there might be an attack in Vienna, a city popular with foreign tourists, and that security measures were boosted.
