Latest news Young Swiss man wanted for bomb threats in Austria
Following the series of bomb threats against numerous institutions in Austria, the security authorities have located the suspected author of the threatening emails in Switzerland.
14.10.2024, 13:25
14.10.2024, 14:02
SDA
The Austrian Ministry of the Interior announced on Monday that a 20-year-old Swiss man had been identified through investigations by the state security service in cooperation with the public prosecutor's offices in Graz and Linz. He is considered an urgent suspect. A European arrest warrant has been issued for him.
Since September 30, the authorities have been investigating a total of 27 anonymous bomb threats across Austria, all of which were received by e-mail. Train stations were particularly affected, but threats were also recently received against schools and shopping centers. The subsequent police operations sometimes led to evacuations.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior did not want to comment on Monday on how many threats the Swiss national is specifically responsible for. As the suspect is still at large in his home country, it is not yet possible to go into more detail about the current state of the investigation, he said in response to an APA inquiry.
A spokesperson for the ministry did not confirm media reports that the 20-year-old had already been arrested.
Swiss security and judicial authorities are also involved in the investigation. The European arrest warrant has been forwarded to the Swiss authorities for examination and execution. "This may take several weeks," said the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry emphasized on Monday that further clarification of the background is still required.
According to the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), around 450 trains and thousands of passengers were affected by the first five bomb threats at railroad stations alone. In total, train services were disrupted for around eight hours, the Austrian Federal Railways explained last week.
