An extensive Austria-wide criminal network suspected of violent hate crimes targeting homosexuals was exposed on Friday after police conducted large-scale raids across seven federal states, resulting in multiple arrests.
Around 400 police officers—including criminal investigators, Cobra special forces, and Wega units—carried out 23 house searches early on Friday morning,, as reported by Der Standard.
A Styrian police spokesperson confirmed in a press statement on Friday morning that these raids involved "the most serious offences" classified as hate crimes. He said crimes were specifically related to "the sexual orientation of the victims."
Weapons and Nazi objects found
Fifteen suspects were arrested during the raids, including eleven Austrian nationals and one individual from Slovakia. Police found weapons and Nazi memorabilia during these searches.
READ ALSO: What is Austria’s prohibition law and how is it about to change?
According to authorities, the suspects set up fake social media accounts to lure their victims into face-to-face meetings. At these meetings, "four to eight masked perpetrators appeared" and hit the victims. There was also at least one case of attempted murder reported. The perpetrators further humiliated the victims and recorded these acts, uploading the videos into private chat groups.
Currently, police have identified "17 criminally relevant offences." Authorities believe there may still be other unidentified victims and are urging individuals affected by these crimes to come forward.
Investigators said the suspects claimed they wanted "to terrorise paedophiles through vigilante justice," even though, according to police, "none of the victims were paedophiles."
The police spokesperson also noted an alarming escalation, stating, "The perpetrators became more and more brutal with each offence."
READ NEXT: Austria to compensate gay people convicted under discriminatory laws
Comments