Third Man Suspected of Planning Attack at Taylor Swift Concert Arrested

Austrian authorities have detained a third young man suspected of links to a group that planned a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, the Austrian interior minister said.

The third detainee, an Iraqi citizen, is 18 years old and is believed to be linked to the same media outlets as the main suspect. He is another young man, an Austrian, 19 years old, of North Macedonian origin.

The 19-year-old suspect, who was the first to be arrested, recently pledged allegiance to the current leader of Daesh online. The North American pop star had to cancel three concerts in the Austrian capital due to security concerns.

Two other Austrians, aged 17 and 15, were also arrested. However, the youngest was released and authorities were treating him as a witness, local media reported.

Austrian police received information about the terrorist plot from US intelligence services because Austrian law does not allow monitoring of messaging apps, such as those the suspects use to communicate with each other.

Chemicals and technical devices were found in the home of the main suspect, which are currently being examined by authorities. During a search of the home of the second suspect, materials on a 17-year-old Austrian, ISIS and Al-Qaeda were found.

According to local authorities, the young men intended to kill many people near the stadium where Taylor Swift’s concert was to take place. To do this, the detainees used knives and homemade explosives.

The 19-year-old has already confessed to his plans to carry out the attack. Police say he is “an obvious ISIS radical who believes in killing infidels.”

On Friday, a UN official acknowledged that the plan to attack the concert was proof that “radicalization on social media is a serious problem.”