1 year ago
42
The suspects successful the foiled crippled to onslaught Taylor Swift concerts successful Vienna earlier this period sought to termination "tens of thousands" of fans earlier the CIA discovered quality that disrupted the readying and led to arrests, the agency's lawman manager said.
The CIA notified Austrian authorities of the scheme, which allegedly included links to the Islamic State group. The quality and consequent arrests yet led to the cancellation of 3 sold-out Eras Tour shows, devastating fans who had traveled crossed the globe to spot Swift successful concert.
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen addressed the failed crippled during the yearly Intelligence and National Security Summit, held this week successful Maryland.
"They were plotting to termination a immense fig - tens of thousands of radical astatine this concert, including I americium definite galore Americans - and were rather precocious successful this," Cohen said Wednesday. "The Austrians were capable to marque those arrests due to the fact that the bureau and our partners successful the quality assemblage provided them accusation astir what this ISIS-connected radical was readying to do."
SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift calls cancellation of Vienna shows 'devastating' and explains her silence
Austrian officials said the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian man, was inspired by the Islamic State group. He allegedly planned to onslaught extracurricular the stadium, wherever upwards of 30,000 fans were expected to gather, with knives oregon homemade explosives. Another 65,000 fans were apt to beryllium wrong the venue. Investigators discovered chemic substances and method devices during a raid of the suspect's home.
Austria's interior minister, Gerhard Karner, antecedently said assistance from different quality agencies was needed due to the fact that Austrian investigators, dissimilar immoderate overseas services, can't legally show substance messages.
The 19-year-old's lawyer has said the allegations were "overacting astatine its best," and contended Austrian authorities were "presenting this exaggeratedly" successful bid to get caller surveillance powers.
Swift broke her soundlessness astir the cancellations past week aft her London shows had concluded.
"Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating," she wrote successful a connection posted to Instagram. "The crushed for the cancellations filled maine with a caller consciousness of fear, and a tremendous magnitude of guilt due to the fact that truthful galore radical had planned connected coming to those shows."
She thanked authorities - "thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives," she wrote - and said she waited to talk until the European limb of her Eras Tour concluded to prioritize safety.
"Let maine beryllium precise clear: I americium not going to talk astir thing publically if I deliberation doing truthful mightiness provoke those who would privation to harm the fans who travel to my shows," she wrote.
Concert organizer Barracuda Music said it canceled the three-night Vienna tally that would person begun Aug. 8 due to the fact that the arrests made successful transportation to the conspiracy were excessively adjacent to showtime.
The main fishy and a 17-year-old were taken into custody connected Aug. 6, the time earlier the cancellations were announced. A 3rd suspect, 18, was arrested Aug. 8. Their names person not been released successful enactment with Austrian privateness rules.
The shows successful London, the adjacent halt aft Vienna, came connected the heels of a stabbing astatine a Swift-themed creation people that near 3 small girls dormant successful the U.K. In a connection issued aft the Southport attack, Swift said she was "just wholly successful shock" and "at a implicit nonaccomplishment for however to ever convey my sympathies to these families." News outlets reported that Swift met with immoderate of the survivors backstage successful London.
The Vienna crippled besides drew comparisons to a 2017 onslaught by a termination bomber astatine an Ariana Grande performance successful Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The weaponry detonated astatine the extremity of Grande's performance arsenic thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist onslaught successful the United Kingdom successful caller years.
Cohen connected Wednesday praised the CIA's enactment successful preventing the planned violence, saying that different counterterrorism "successes" successful foiling plots typically spell unheralded.
"I tin archer you wrong my agency, and I'm definite successful others, determination were radical who thought that was a truly bully time for Langley," helium said, referring to the CIA headquarters. "And not conscionable the Swifties successful my workforce."
The record-smashing circuit is connected hiatus until the fall.
Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
