Austrian police seized hundreds of firearms and thousands of ammunition, neo-Nazi material and arrested six people during house searches targeting a group of far-right “motorcyclists,” the government announced on Thursday.
“About 35 long guns, 25 machine guns, 100 pistols, 400 signal guns (…) reports the Austrian Ministry of the Interior.
“Several Nazi items ranging from flags to daggers, including uniform pieces, busts and paintings” were also found in the possession of the suspects, who were placed in protective custody, the information note added, accompanied by photos of the seized material taken.
Five kilos of cannabis, about a kilo of cocaine and 650 grams of amphetamine were also found.
The searches in Upper Austria (north) and Lower Austria (northeast) targeted members of the “Bandits” group.
The government explained that it was informed in December 2022 of plans to create the “Bandidos” group in Austria, which has a global network.
Austrian police conducted the investigation to avoid violent clashes with the rival Hells Angels gang, as had happened in Switzerland. One of its members was arrested in early June.
“Research has shown the extent to which right-wing extremism is represented in outlaw biker gangs,” said Information Services (DSN) director Omar Haijawi-Pirchner.
Possession of Nazi memorabilia is a crime in Austria, the homeland of Adolf Hitler, which has long denied responsibility for crimes committed by the Third Reich.
The rivalry between the two groups also reached Portugal, where the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) asked in May for effective detention of all defendants in the Hells Angels case, with sentences ranging from 15 to 17 years.
In the final allegations of the trial of the 89 defendants in the Hells Angels case, the MP defended that the sentence for the heads of the ‘motorcyclists’ organization should not be less than 17 years and 15 years for the rest.
It concerns the attack in 2018 by the group Hells Angels in the restaurant Mesa do Prior, in Prior Velho, as part of the persecution of Mário Machado, former leader of the far-right movement Nova Ordem Social and who belonged to the rival group “Bandits” .
The prosecution confirmed the practice of the crimes of the accusation and verdict, including criminal association, violation of physical integrity, extortion, drug trafficking, theft and possession of weapons and ammunition – and defended the increase from four to eight in the number of crimes of attempted murder attributed to members of that group.
Source: DN
