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Six British children under the age of five are rescued from the Austrian basement where they lived with a ‘conspiracy theorist’ who had an arsenal of weapons and attacked social workers with pepper spray
- Police believe the family of eight had been living in the basement for several months.
- The children were not reportedly locked up, abandoned or sexually abused.
Six British children under the age of five have been found living in an abandoned warehouse in Austria, in an illegal hideout with a 54-year-old Austrian man said to be obsessed with conspiracy theories, and his 40-year-old wife.
The youths were discovered at the illegal hideout in the small town of Obritz after police stormed in following an incident in which the man allegedly attacked social services with pepper spray.
Local deputy mayor Erich Greil said after the discovery that the man once told him he had ten children and wanted “a basement for each child.”
The man is said to have been a ‘Reichsbürger’, a group of right-wing extremists who believe that the German empire still exists as it did before World War II, and that the current German state is nothing more than an administrative construct.
The young men were found in the illegal hideout in the small town of Obritz (pictured) with a 54-year-old Austrian man and his wife.
Many of the basement doors and windows were boarded up, footage from the scene shows.
The family, consisting of the six children aged seven months to five years, is believed to have lived in the basement, which had been sold to an English company, for several months.
There have been complaints from concerned local residents hearing children’s voices in recent weeks, prompting social services to get involved.
A police statement said the man attacked two social workers with pepper spray on Thursday around 3 p.m.
The man is said to have barricaded himself in the building. Police were called and the man was later arrested.
When the police entered the basement, they found the six children along with various weapons.
The basements had been renovated to have doors, windows, water, electricity and surveillance cameras, but are said to have “inadequate sanitation” and were deemed “not suitable for children”.
The couple installed sophisticated CCTV cameras around the basement, allowing them to see anyone who came near.
Local deputy mayor Erich Greil said after the discovery that the man once told him he had ten children and wanted “a basement for each child.”
The town of Obritz only has around 500 inhabitants and is a rural haven for its residents.
The warehouse was adapted and multiple security cameras were added, with local media reporting that the man became more involved in conspiracy theories since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Locals described the 54-year-old as “smart” but also suggested he was linked to groups of conspiracy theorists.
The children were reportedly not locked up or abandoned, police sources told the Telegraph. There is no suggestion of sexual abuse.
Since then, they have been taken in due to concerns about the lack of proof of the identity of the children.
In Austria, all births must be registered by law with local authorities, but no records of any of the children have been found.
The parents reportedly claim that all five children were born in the UK, where their father is said to have worked.
A Reichsbürger group was arrested in Germany late last year over a plot to stage a violent coup and overthrow the government.
During the German investigation, police found a list of 18 enemy politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whom the group is said to have planned to execute.
The group was said to have planned to install a former member of a German royal family, 71-year-old Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuss, as national leader.