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POLICE

Austrian Special Forces storm ‘wrong door’

An innocent man in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, had a rude and alarming awakening last week when an Austrian Special Forces police team broke down his apartment door at 6am, and woke him at gunpoint.

Austrian Special Forces storm 'wrong door'
Cobra - Austrian police special forces. Photo: APA

"I was awakened by a loud bang and suddenly four armed-to-the-teeth men were surrounding me. I looked directly into the barrels of their guns, it felt like I was in a nightmare," the 49-year-old man told the Kronen paper.

The Cobra team soon realised the confused man wasn’t the three African asylum seekers they were looking for – and that they should have broken into the apartment next door.

“The masked policemen spoke to me in English, so I was completely overwhelmed, because I was still asleep," the innocent man said.

Red-faced, the police left, and stormed next door. When they searched the correct property they found cocaine and cannabis along with cash and mobile phones. Three asylum seekers from Liberia, Cameroon and Nigeria were living in the apartment and two were arrested for dealing drugs.

"'Error' is a little harsh," Josef Knoflach, director of EKO Cobra South, said to the Austrian Press Agency. He defended the actions of his team, saying that drug deals could also have been taking place in the neighbour’s flat – but admitted that the judge had only given a search warrant for the asylum seekers’ apartment.

The Special Forces team didn’t turn on any lights in the hallway as they didn’t want to alert the suspects that they were coming. Knoflach said the door numbers were indistinct, and that police had to use a battering ram to enter the apartment as the key they had brought with them didn’t work.

The innocent man has been handed compensation forms and will be able to claim compensation for his damaged door.  

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CRIME

Austria detains suspected Islamists amid security fears

Authorities in Austria have detained three people amid concerns over calls for terror attacks on December 24th.

Austria detains suspected Islamists amid security fears

Austria on Sunday said three people were detained for suspected involvement in an “Islamist network”, as Vienna and Cologne step up police controls citing heightened security concerns during Christmas.

German police are carrying out strict controls at the entry of the cathedral in the western city of Cologne following a “danger warning” for New Year’s Eve.

Austrian police have also stepped up checks, especially around churches, religious events and Christmas markets in Vienna, citing an “increased risk”.

Austrian authorities “intervening in an Islamist network” made four arrests Saturday, the interior ministry said Sunday.

A ministry spokesman said of the four, three had been detained pending further investigations.

“There was no immediate threat of an attack in Vienna,” he told AFP, declining to comment further.

According to the German daily Bild, one arrest was also made in Germany.

The arrested suspects are said to be Tajiks who allegedly wanted to carry out attacks for Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), an IS offshoot in Afghanistan, Bild reported.

“Terrorist actors across Europe are calling for attacks on Christian events — especially around December 24th,” Vienna police said in a statement.

Besides Austria and Germany, Spain also received indications that an Islamist group was planning several attacks in Europe, possibly on New Year’s Eve and Christmas, Bild said.

According to the newspaper, the targets of these attacks could be Christmas masses in Cologne, Vienna and Madrid.

In July, a cell of suspected Islamists from IS-K was dismantled in Germany and the Netherlands.

Those arrested in Germany were said at the time to have been planning an attack in the country.

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