Grenades, assault rifle

Weapons collector played NS songs to children

A huge collection of weapons was discovered at the 54-year-old's home.(Bild: LPD NÖ)

Hand grenades, pump guns, submachine guns and 100 kilos of ammunition were stored at home by a 54-year-old neo-Nazi and his eight friends who were weapons enthusiasts. A weapons cache was also unearthed in St. Pölten.

Investigators from the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (LSE) were not only able to break up an IS network in St. Pölten - as reported - but the experienced officers also succeeded in striking a blow against the right-wing extremist scene. The focus was on a 54-year-old man from the district of Melk.

Buried in the garden
A huge collection of weapons had already been seized from him the previous year. Functioning grenades, submachine guns, an assault rifle, a pump gun, six pistols, three silencers and more than 100 kilos of ammunition were found, some of which had been stowed in barrels and buried in the garden.

In the course of the investigation, eight accomplices aged between 26 and 54 from the districts of Melk and Zwettl were identified. They also had Nazi devotional objects, war material and prohibited weapons. The men are all said to have spread National Socialist ideas on the Internet. A weapons ban was imposed on them. They are not believed to have planned any attacks; they were much more likely to be weapons collectors with Nazi sympathies.

Also a member of a neo-Nazi group
Explosive: the 54-year-old had also indoctrinated his children by playing them right-wing extremist music and transferring it to USB sticks. He was also a member of the neo-Nazi group VAPO. The man received a six-month suspended sentence.

Bayonets and crossbow
The LSE, together with the Cobra special unit, also discovered a veritable arsenal of weapons during five house searches in St. Pölten last year. War material, homemade silencers, a telescopic baton, pistols, bayonets and a crossbow were found on six suspects. After analyzing around 800 gigabytes of data, four more suspects were identified. All of the men were Austrians with a migration background. They were also banned from owning weapons and charged.