The 19-year-old Austrian citizen, identified as Beran A, had recently sworn an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State online and intended to kill as many people as he could, security officials said.
He was “clearly radicalised in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels”, said Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, director of Austria’s domestic intelligence agency.
A suspect has confessed to plotting a machete and car attack against Taylor Swift fans. Photo / Vienna Police Department
Beran A, who confessed to the plans shortly after being arrested, wanted “to kill himself and a large crowd either today or tomorrow”, Haijawi-Pirchner added.
A search of his parents’ home south of Vienna uncovered homemade explosives, detonators, machetes and knives.
Beran A has now been pictured, bearded and posing with knives, as his neighbours revealed he had dramatically changed his appearance recently.
A 17-year-old was also arrested on Wednesday accused of being the suspect’s accomplice. The teen, who has Turkish and Croatian roots, had just started a job at the Ernst Happel stadium days before the event was cancelled over the terror threat, officials said.
Police also questioned a 15-year-old boy, who confirmed many details of the main suspect’s confession, but is not believed to have taken an active part in the plot.
With all the suspects in custody, Franz Ruf, the head of public safety in Austria, said there was no longer an imminent threat.
Swift was set to perform three sold-out shows to over 200,000 people across Thursday, Friday and Saturday as part of the international leg of the Eras Tour. Her fans often gather outside venues hoping to score a last-minute ticket or just to listen to the show.
Taylor Swift's Vienna concerts were set to take place at Ernst Happel Stadium this week. Photo / Getty Images
“With confirmation from government officials of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Happel stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety,” Barracuda Music, the event’s organiser, said on Wednesday evening.
Investigators revealed that Beran A, whose parents come from North Macedonia, stole chemicals from his former metalworking company to build a bomb to murder spectators.
Police cordoned off and partially evacuated the area around the suspect’s house in Ternitz, a small town at the scenic foot of the Alps in Lower Austria. Around 100 people, including residents of a retirement home, had to be evacuated.
Residents of Ternitz told Austrian media the suspect used to be a “harmless boy from next door” who wore jeans and trainers.
Taylor Swift's shows in Vienna were cancelled this week. Photo / Getty Images
But his neighbours noted that he had recently changed his appearance, growing a long beard and was often seen wearing a long-sleeved cotton shirt.
Local authorities are said to have acted after receiving a tip-off from another country’s intelligence services about a suspected terror cell. CBS News reported it came from the US Secret Service.
The suspect had recently declared his allegiance to an Afghanistan-based splinter cell of IS, known as “Khorasan Province” (ISKP), according to Austria’s broadcaster Oe24.
The terrorist outfit is responsible for the massacre at a concert hall in Moscow in March, which killed some 150 people, and for launching threats to attack stadiums in Dortmund, Munich and Berlin during the Euro football championships this summer.
Investigators said they also found extensive material related to the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda at the home of the second suspect.
Karl Nehammer, the Austrian chancellor, said in a statement on Wednesday, that “the cancellation of the Taylor Swift concerts by the organisers is a bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria”.
“The situation surrounding the apparently planned terror attack in Vienna was very serious,” he said. But he added that thanks to intensive co-operation between police and Austrian and foreign intelligence, “the threat could be recognised early on, tackled and a tragedy prevented”.
Austria’s interior minister has criticised the fact the country had to rely on foreign intelligence to foil the terror plot.
“We are dependent on foreign intelligence services because we do not have the legal means to monitor messenger services on which potential offenders communicate today,” Gerhard Karner said.
“We don’t want or need mass surveillance, but rather modern tools for the police so that they can do their job for the safety of the population.”
Dominik Nepp, the leader of the far-Right Freedom Party in Vienna, seized the moment to criticise the government’s immigration policies.
“Taylor Swift can play all over the world, but not here! Vienna is really different! My daughters and I have been looking forward to this for a year!” he wrote on social media.
“Only because we have this IS riff-raff in our country thanks to the uncontrolled welcome culture!”
