A Bosnian-born gang leader (20) wanted to carry out an attack on the Linz-Ebelsberg police station with a Molotov cocktail on New Year’s Eve or to incite others to do so. Presumed motive: dissatisfaction with the corona measures. The suspect is likely to be the ringleader of a fire attack on a patrol car in mid-November. According to his accomplices, there were plans to douse a police officer with gasoline and set fire to it.
“Police officers are increasingly becoming the target of anti-corona measures. We will counteract this development with all consistency and the means of the rule of law ”, underlined Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) in view of the case. According to investigators, the 20-year-old man is the head of a group that over the past few weeks repeatedly detonated firecrackers in the south of Linz, struck a racket and thus provoked police operations. These actions boasted on social media. The background should have been with the Corona measures. However, the alleged ringleader should not be part of the Linz corona demo scene.
The preliminary climax of the activities seemed to have been reached on November 14th, when a police car in the Ebelsberg district of Linz went up in flames while the officials checked compliance with the Corona rules. The car had been doused with gasoline and set on fire. Two perpetrators – 16 and 20 years old – were identified as immediate perpetrators. They confessed to the crime, but said they were instigated.
The investigators, who knew from the start that the three were part of a larger group, seemed credible. In the course of the interrogations, it turned out that there was apparently also a plan on that day to douse an officer with gasoline and set it on fire if someone from the gang was arrested. State Police Director Andreas Pilsl spoke at the time of a “perfidy that we have never known before”.
The three men were shown at large. Two of them were beaten up by other group members after their confessions and were told to remain silent. The police have now identified three young people as attackers, two of them 16 years old and one 14 year old. In addition, the group’s ringleaders went online. The 20-year-old gang boss was arrested by the Cobra just before Christmas and is on remand. The man has so far remained silent on the allegations. (APA / Red)
