An alleged Islamic State (ISIS) sympathiser plotted to carry out a terror attackon a Taylor Swift concertwith a bomb hidden inside a Red Bull can, a court heard. Beran Aliyi, 21, has begun his trial in Austria, over the alleged sick plot to target the crowd watching the music superstar atVienna's Ernst Happel Stadium.
A court heard investigators raided Aliyi's apartment the day before the concerts were due to begin and discovered suspected bomb-making materials.
More than 195,000 fans of the singer, affectionately known as 'Swifties', had booked tickets to her three-day appearance at the venue. The harrowing details of the alleged planned attack draw sickening comparisons with the 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in recent years.
It's alleged Aliyi planned to drive a car using fake police flashing blue lights and a siren to get past security before he would detonate his explosive device, German newspaper Bild reported.
The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift's three performances in August 2024. The singer's fans who had flown to Austria from across the globe to attend a performance of her record-setting Eras Tour were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs.
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The defendant, a 21-year-old suspect faces charges including terrorist offences and membership in a terrorist organisation. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
He is facing trial alongside Arda K., whose full name also has not been made public. They along, with a third man, planned to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 in the name of the Islamic State group. Aliyi and Arda K. never carried out their attacks.
Aliyi defence solicitor, Anna Mair, said her client plans to plead guilty to most of the charges but she did not specify which ones.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
