/ world today news/ 14 suspects, including a Bulgarian, have been arrested in Austria on suspicion of ties to the terrorist group “Islamic State”.
More than 800 investigators worked on the operational information before the special operation before the arrests in Vienna and Graz were reached.
However, the police raid is not related to the arrest of the 17-year-old, detained last week on the same suspicion. Initially, 8 people were detained – 4 in Vienna and 4 in Graz. Among them there are three with Austrian citizenship, but of immigrant origin. The others are two Bosnians, a Syrian, a Bulgarian and a Macedonian. All between the ages of 21 and 49.
Three more suspects from the Balkans were arrested a little later in Graz.
There are also 3 women among those arrested. It is likely that some of them are the wives of already arrested jihadists.
The operation was planned in advance, there was no threat of a specific attack at the moment, Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka explained during a meeting with his EU colleagues in Malta.
According to the Kronen Zeitung tabloid, the arrests were initiated after information was uncovered about the network of a Bosnian Islamic preacher who was sentenced to 20 years last July by magistrates in Graz on charges of recruiting youths to join Islamic State.
He arrived in Vienna from Bosnia after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and has since preached in various mosques around the western country.
The action is just part of an ongoing operation to search for and detain suspected terrorists. /AFP
Vienna / Austria
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