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CRIME

Bandidos biker club opens in Salzburg

The Bandidos, a criminal motorcycle gang already active in other European countries, may be starting to gain a foothold in Austria, according to a report in the daily newspaper the Kurier.

Bandidos biker club opens in Salzburg
Bandidos club members in Germany. Photo: APA/DPA

The gang is thought to have established its first Austrian club in Salzburg. So far there is no evidence that it has been engaged in illegal activities, although it is believed to have “close links” to organised crime.

According to the Kurier the Salzburg club hasn’t yet established itself as an official ‘chapter’ of the gang, but has registered itself as a limited company described as “an advertising, internet, and event agency" which specialises in products for "martial arts, security, and lifestyle".

The company is also listed as one of the organizers of a major martial arts event in Salzburg in December. Its sales room is painted in the Bandidos club colours – red and gold.

There are reports that a second club is planned in Vienna. 

The club building in Salzburg's Hans-Schmid-Platz. Photo: Stadt Salzburg/Info-Z

Traditionally Austria has been the territory of rival motorcycle club The Hell’s Angels, and the Kurier speculates that problems could arise should the Bandidos start to expand in Austria.

In Germany the Bandidos and the Hell’s Angels have waged a brutal turf war. According to investigators in Germany the struggle is over who controls the trade in drugs, illegal weapons, and brothels.

The Federal Criminal Police Office in Vienna said it would follow developments in the biker scene in Austria closely. "Salzburg police are aware that the club is active," said police spokeswoman Irene Stauffer. "On the ground floor there is a business, on the upper floor, the club rooms."

However, she said that as no problems or incidents have been reported so far, and as there is no evidence of criminality the police will not be carrying out an investigation.

The Bandidos club was formed in 1966 in the American state of Texas, by former U.S. marines who fought in the Vietnam War.

The first European chapters developed in France in the 1980s, followed by groups in Scandinavia.

 

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CRIME

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

Austrian authorities on Friday said they were investigating 17 teenagers - including 12 minors - over the alleged months-long sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl in Vienna last year.

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

The alleged offences took place in a disadvantaged area of the capital’s south “between February and June 2023, in toilets, garages, a hotel and in the perpetrators’ homes”, Florian Finda, deputy director of the Vienna police, told a news conference.

The suspects in the rare case – most of whom are aged between 14 and 18 – are of Bulgarian, Italian, Serbian, Syrian and Turkish origin.

Two of them are under 14 and therefore below Austria’s age of criminal responsibility.

The suspects – almost all of whom were known to police for other offences – are accused of serious sexual abuse of a minor, including the pornographic depiction of the abuse of a minor.

Thirteen suspects were questioned on Thursday, with some of them partially denying the allegations.

The suspects and the Austrian victim met through one of the accused, with whom the then 12-year-old is said to have made out with.

She was then introduced to the rest of the group.

The boys allegedly exchanged videos and photos of the abuse via social networks including WhatsApp chats, with one of them allegedly threatening to share the pornographic material.

According to the police, none of the material was made available to the wider public.

In October, the young girl, now 13, informed her mother, who subsequently filed a complaint.

The ongoing investigation is due to be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office.

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