The suspects in the foiled terrorist attack on Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” concerts in Vienna wanted to kill “tens of thousands” of people, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said.
The agency said intelligence it discovered had thwarted the plans – which were allegedly linked to Islamic State – and led to arrests by the Austrian authorities.
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen spoke about the failed plot during the annual intelligence and national security summit held in Maryland this week.
“They were planning to kill a huge number of people – tens of thousands of people at that concert, including, I’m sure, many Americans – and were pretty well advanced in doing so,” Cohen said.
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Photo of Swift terror suspect published
“The Austrians were able to make these arrests because the agency and our intelligence partners provided them with information about the plans of this ISIS-affiliated group.”
Austrian officials said the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian, was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group.
He allegedly planned an attack with knives or a homemade explosive device outside the stadium, where more than 30,000 fans were expected to gather. Another 65,000 fans were believed to have been inside the stadium.
During a raid on the suspect’s apartment, investigators discovered chemical substances and technical equipment.
Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner had previously stated that the help of other secret services was necessary because, unlike some foreign services, Austrian investigators are not allowed to monitor text messages.
The suspect’s lawyer claimed that Austrian authorities were “exaggerating” the situation in order to gain new surveillance powers.
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Swift travel organizer “acted responsibly”
Fast’s three planned concerts earlier this month were cancelled After the plan was foiled, fans of the 34-year-old star were devastated – including some who had traveled all over the world.
The main suspect and a 17-year-old were taken into custody on August 6, one day before the cancellations were announced. A third suspect, 18, was arrested on August 8.
Their names were not published in accordance with Austrian data protection regulations.
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Fast broke her silence about the cancellations last week after the end of their shows in London – the next stop after Vienna.
“The cancellation of our Vienna shows was devastating,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear and enormous guilt because so many people had planned to come to these shows.”
She thanked the authorities – “thanks to them, we mourned concerts and not live performances,” she wrote – and said she had waited to comment until the European leg of her Eras tour was over to give top priority to safety.
“Let me be clear: I will not speak publicly about something if I believe it might provoke those who wish to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she wrote.
The shows in London followed a knife attack at a Swift dance class in which three girls died in Southport.
The Vienna attack was also accompanied by a 2017 suicide bomber attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, where 22 people died.
The bomb exploded at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving the building. It was the deadliest extremist attack in Britain in recent years.
Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour is on hiatus until fall.
