In order to “climb the ladder” and increase his prestige within the neo-Nazi and pro-Russian group he belonged to, he was planning some violent actions. In fact, he had already planned some of them, but found the police investigations blocking his way.
These are some of the details that emerged in the press conference of the investigators led by the head of the Digos Antonio Nicolli following the arrest of an 18-year-old from Cagliari , very active on Telegram and who had joined the Aast group and the American organization The Base: neo-Nazi and pro-Russian associations , whose primary objective is to commit acts of violence for the purposes of terrorism and subversion for reasons of racial hatred.
"To gain credibility and climb the ladder of the organization he was part of and that required such "proof" in his recruitment - explained Nicolli - the suspect aimed to carry out some demonstrative actions. Indeed, he had already attempted to carry out some, such as an attack with a homemade bomb to hit immigrants queuing at Caritas , which we stopped much earlier. But there are also attacks on foreigners in front of a shopping center, which the suspect filmed".
The arrest was carried out this morning by agents of the State Police of the capital, who collaborated with colleagues from Vicenza and Milan. A 20-year-old Romanian associate, who was part of the same system, also ended up in the network.
The measures carried out today come at the end of a complex investigative activity developed over the last year - under the direction of the Public Prosecutor's Offices of Milan and Cagliari with the coordination of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate - by the local Digos in synergy with the Service for the Countering of Extremism and Internal Terrorism of the Central Directorate of the Prevention Police - Ucigos.
The investigation allowed to collect numerous evidences on the belonging to the same criminal context and the virtual knowledge of the two suspects: circumstance that made the simultaneous execution of the precautionary measures appropriate.
The 18-year-old's violent nature had already manifested itself when he was a minor: in 2022 he had been subjected to a search by the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office after having threatened a schoolmate with a knife, who had reprimanded him for hearing him praise Hitler.
Even after he came of age, he continued his racist behavior. But he committed further crimes, such as child pornography, computer extortion in the subspecies of "sextortion", digital identity theft for extortion purposes.
The eighteen-year-old had made himself available to implement the program of the neo-Nazi groups he was part of in Cagliari and in Italy, informing himself and training himself through the training courses provided by the organizations on the dedicated Telegram channels: he repeatedly searched the Internet for information on weapons such as pistols, tonfas, crossbows, tasers, deterrents and knuckledusters, comparing himself with other Internet users on how to obtain a gun.
But that's not all: he is also accused of attempted aggravated extortion, sexual violence and child pornography against various individuals. Among them a fifteen-year-old girl, from whom he asked for money by threatening to publish sexual images and videos of her on WhatsApp and forcing her to perform sexual acts online and, subsequently, to forward them on Telegram in a group chat.
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.-lf)
Video by Matteo Vercelli