Austria Seizes Smuggled Weapons Linked to Hamas
Austrian police have confiscated a stash of handguns that were allegedly smuggled into the country by Hamas, intended for potential future terrorist attacks. In a related incident, British police arrested a man believed to be connected to the operation.
The discovery occurred on Thursday when authorities found a suitcase containing five handguns and ten magazines in a rented locker in Vienna. While a man associated with the case had a licensed handgun and passed background checks, officials believe the other weapons were hidden away by Hamas operatives for future use.
Investigators suggest that “Jewish facilities in Israel or Europe were likely the intended targets” of these plans, allegedly orchestrated by a “global terrorist organization linked to Hamas.”
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Kerner commended the international collaboration that facilitated this find, emphasizing a firm stance against terrorism. According to the kronen zeitung, this weapons cache may be connected to the apprehension of an entire suspected Hamas cell in Berlin last month. Reports indicate that suspects Abed al-G and King Ahmad I, both holding German nationality, along with Wael FM, a national from Lebanon, were allegedly involved in a plot to assassinate a notable Jewish figure in Germany.
These individuals had secured an AK-47-type rifle, several handguns, and a “significant” quantity of ammunition. Recent arrests have also shed light on hidden Hamas weapon caches throughout Europe. For instance, in 2023, seven men were detained across Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands on suspicions of intending to unearth a lost underground cache to launch attacks against Jewish communities in Europe.
Although these men reportedly attempted to discover and dig up the stash multiple times, they were unsuccessful. Following the arrests, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency stated that their plan was to “kill innocent civilians on European territory… and attack Israeli, Jewish, and Western targets at all costs.”
On the same day as the weapons seizure in Austria, the UK’s National Crime Agency, analogous to the FBI, arrested a 39-year-old British citizen believed to have “close connections with the armory” in Vienna.
