Austria seizes 90 guns, grenades, explosives destined for German nazi militia

[Syt]

This is getting a bit less attention than it should (Covid overshadowing things).

https://www.dw.com/en/austria-seizes-guns-destined-for-german-right-wing-militia/a-55915759

Austria seizes guns destined for German right-wing militia

Far-right extremists planned to set up an armed militia in the southern German state of Bavaria, Austrian investigators say. The weapons seized included Kalashnikovs and Uzis.

Austrian police have seized dozens of weapons and 100,000 rounds of ammunition that were partly destined for building up an extremist far-right militia in Germany, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer announced on Saturday.

Authorities found 76 semi-automatic and automatic weapons, 14 handguns, more than 100,000 rounds of various calibers, as well as six hand grenades and various types of explosives during raids this week.

The Kurier newspaper reported that the weapons included Kalashnikovs, Skorpions and Uzis.

Vienna's police chief Gerhard Pürstl described the haul as the largest in decades and said the weapons were to be used to set up an armed extremist group in the southern German state of Bavaria.

Five suspects have been detained in Austria, including a man who was already known to authorities for his far-right activities.

Local media said he was once suspected of being connected to a letter bombing campaign that rocked Austria in the 1990s.

Arrests in Germany, too

Two people have been arrested in Bavaria, leading investigator Michael Mimra said.

Investigations are also ongoing in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia.

The weapons were uncovered as part of an operation against drug smuggling from Germany to Austria, according to Nimra.

Investigators subsequently found that the suspects were also linked to alleged weapons trading.

Austrian police have also linked the arrests to motorbike clubs.

German intelligence agencies are increasingly concerned about the threat posed by far-right extremists, following an increase in political crimes and the involvement of the far-right in anti-coronavirus lockdown protests.

[The Brain]

It putsch the weapons on its skins...

[Syt]

[The Brain]

Fucking loot boxes.

Sorry, fugging loot boxes.

[Sheilbh]

God - worrying.

I don't know about seizing any weapons like that, but I've read a lot of pieces in the UK about counter-extremism and monitoring of extremist groups moving from primarily Islamist groups about five years ago to the far-right which is now their primary focus. In particular lots of stuff about how the focus used to be young Muslim men being radicalised online but now it's also young white men being radicalised online. They're about equal.

The other thing that's happened here is the rise of what the police call "mixed, unstable or unclear" ideology which is actually the largest group that are being monitored, which is described as "relates to instances where people exhibit a combination of elements from multiple ideologies (mixed), shift between different ideologies (unstable), or where the individual does not present a coherent ideology (unclear), yet may still pose a terrorism risk."

This is clearly organised but I think the stuff about the rise of "mixed" ideology is the shift from you know cells and planning and coordinated activity (unlike this) to the lone wolf type attacks that seem to me more like a version of school shootings than terrorism.