Austrian prosecutors have charged a 21-year-old man arrested shortly before a concert by American singer Taylor Swift in Vienna in 2024 with terrorism and other crimes. The detainee had planned to bomb the audience at the concert, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Three planned concerts by the singer in the Austrian capital were canceled due to the threat of an attack. The man has not yet been identified by the prosecutor's office, but Austrian media have identified him as Beran A. He is the only one who has been detained in connection with the planned attack.
The prosecutor's office accuses the detainee of producing a small amount of the explosive triacetone triperoxide and of attempting to illegally purchase weapons, it said in a statement. According to the prosecutor's office, the suspect is a member of the jihadist group "Islamic State" and charges have also been brought against him because he searched the Internet for information on how to make a bomb similar to the one the group has used in other attacks.
If convicted, the man could face up to 20 years in prison, the prosecutor's office said.