Taylor Swift ISIS terror-plot teen ‘was radicalised by notorious hate preacher’ and ‘was building a bomb in his back garden while his family were on holiday which he intended to use to kill concert fans’
A teenage terror suspect who planned a bloodbath at a Taylor Swift concert in Austria was believed to have been radicalized by a notorious hate preacher in Berlin.
Beran A., the 19-year-old ISIS fanatic who was building a bomb in his parents’ backyard and planning to run over concertgoers this week, was influenced online by Berlin’s rabid hate preacher Abul Baraa, according to German intelligence sources cited by BILD.
Baraa – real name Ahmad Armih – is a well-known figure within the German security services with 46,000 followers on Instagram and over 81,000 on TikTok.
The Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s equivalent of MI5, told the Bild newspaper: “The closure of his Berlin mosque and the corona pandemic have led to increased engagement on social media.”
‘His rhetoric and manner of speaking particularly appeal to young people.’
Images have emerged of the garden and inconspicuous toilet block where Beran A. reportedly built his suicide bomb while his parents were on holiday in their native North Macedonia.
Taylor Swift was scheduled to perform for an estimated 170,000 fans at Vienna’s Ernst-Happel-Stadion on August 8, 9 and 10, but the shows were canceled over fears of a terror plot.
The 19-year-old ISIS fanatic has been identified as Beran A., who lived in Ternitz south of Vienna
Beran A., the 19-year-old ISIS fanatic, is said to be building a bomb in his parents’ backyard
Taylor Swift fans sing together at Stephansplatz on August 8, 2024 in Vienna, Austria
Three Taylor Swift concerts scheduled to take place here tonight, Friday and Saturday have been cancelled after Austrian police announced they had foiled a suspected attack on the venue
The 19-year-old man – who lived with another man in his parents’ house (white house in the photo on the right) – was arrested on Wednesday after police searched the house, Kronen Zeitung reported
A few years ago, Beran A.’s parents, who had emigrated from North Macedonia to Austria, moved with him and his younger sister to a newly built house in the Neunkirchen district of Ternitz.
Residents of Ternitz told local media that Beran, who was born in Austria and attended a local school, used to be an “innocent boy next door” who could often be seen hanging around in jeans and trainers.
However, neighbors say he underwent a dramatic transformation in appearance and behavior when he pledged allegiance to ISIS last month, including growing a full beard.
This characteristic was clearly visible in a shocking photo of the potential terrorist released by German media yesterday, showing him posing with huge zombie knives and an ISIS flag.
The 19-year-old was arrested in Ternitz on Wednesday morning, while a second teenager, aged 17, was held in the Austrian capital, Director General for Public Security Franz Ruf said.
It later emerged that Beran A. and his accomplice planned to attack Swift’s concert venue. They drove into the crowd outside and attacked them with knives and machetes. They then detonated a suicide bomb to kill as many fans as possible.
Until two weeks ago, Beran A. worked in the same stainless steel factory in Ternitz as his father.
He trained as a salesman at the factory and was given access to the factory laboratory, where, among other things, various chemicals were used.
During a raid on the family’s home in Ternitz this week, bomb disposal experts managed to obtain chemicals needed to produce the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which Beran A. has reportedly already experimented with.
TATP is often used by ISIS in terrorist attacks and requires acetone and hydrogen peroxide. Officials say the substance was found in the home.
Ruf confirmed at a press conference yesterday that the suspect’s ‘preparatory action’ in the home in Ternitz was aimed at manufacturing explosives.
The head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, said that Beran A. “has clearly been radicalized towards the Islamic State and he considers it right to kill infidels.”
Beran A.’s parents and sister are reportedly on holiday in North Macedonia, but police are expected to question the parents about their son upon their return.
After his arrest, the teenager fully confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue,” Austrian security officials said.
According to the Austrian newspaper, his planned terrorist attack would end with him detonating his homemade bomb and committing suicide. Today newspaper.
Behind the stark white walls of the family home in Ternitz (white house, second from the left), bomb experts managed to obtain chemicals to produce the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which Beran A. is said to have already experimented with.
Fans of singer Taylor Swift – swifties – gather in Vienna, Austria on August 8, 2024, after the star’s concerts were canceled at the last minute due to a terror threat
Fans of singer Taylor Swift gather after the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts at the Happel Stadium after authorities confirmed a planned attack on the venue in Vienna, Austria, August 8, 2024
Both suspects – who are said to have radicalised themselves online – were taking “preparatory measures” for an attack – with the 19-year-old “focused” on Swift’s concert in Vienna at the Ernst Happel Stadium (pictured above), General Director of Public Security Franz Ruf confirmed.
General view from outside Happel Stadium after Taylor Swift’s three concerts this week were cancelled on August 8
Taylor Swift canceled all three concerts in Vienna after two suspects were arrested for plotting a terrorist attack on her shows – Swift is pictured performing in London in June
Fierce preacher Baraa, who is said to have played a role in radicalizing the terror suspects, once preached in the infamous ‘As-Sahaba Mosque’ in Berlin.
In 2018, the police raided this mosque on suspicion of terrorist financing. The mosque was later closed.
The location was a gathering place for radical Islamists, including Reda Seyam, a high-ranking German member of ISIS, and Denis Cuspert, one of Germany’s most notorious ISIS fighters.
After the mosque closed, Baraa moved his sermons online, where he continued to spread extremist ideology.
In his videos, he makes chilling references to the ‘kuffar’ (infidels) who wage war against Islam and calls on his followers to resist this alleged oppression.
“How long will this humiliation last… how far will it go, with this war, with this terrorism of the infidels against the Muslims?” Baraa asks in one of his inflammatory sermons.
His influence has grown over the years. The Federal Office for the Preservation of the Constitution has even stated that he has become a “star” in the Islamist world, despite the many investigations against him.