A third teen has been arrested in connection with a thwarted plot to attack Taylor Swift’s Vienna shows, according to Austrian authorities.
An 18-year-old Iraqi citizen was arrested Thursday, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said Friday at a news conference. A 15-year-old has also been interrogated but was not taken into custody.
News of the third suspect’s arrest comes after two Austrian citizens, aged 19 and 17, were taken into custody earlier this week.
While the 18-year-old “comes from the social environment” of the 19-year-old primary suspect, he has not been directly linked to the plot.
“His arrest underscores the broad scope of the ongoing investigation,” the Austrian Interior Ministry said Friday in a statement to The Associated Press. “Authorities are taking decisive action against anyone who might be involved in terrorist activities or exhibit radical tendencies.”
All three of the arrested suspects have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group.
The 17-year-old suspect was employed by a company providing services at Ernst-Happel stadium— where the Grammy winner, 34, was scheduled to perform three consecutive Eras Tour shows, beginning Aug. 8.
Though concert organizer Barracuda Music opted to cancel all three Vienna shows — and has granted automatic ticket refunds within the coming business days — Swift is still poised to perform five sold-out gigs at London’s Wembley Stadium, beginning Aug. 15. The singer already played three sold-out shows there earlier this summer.
Swift has not publicly remarked on the foiled attack nor the investigation, which comes just days after a teen was charged with fatally stabbing three young girls — aged 6, 7, and 9 — at a Swift-themed dance class near Liverpool.
Swift at the time said that she was “completely in shock” over the attack, during which eight other children and two adults were also injured.
“The loss of life and innocence, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families and first responders,” she said. “These were just little kids at a dance class.”
With News Wire Services