VIENNA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The radicalized religious milieu in Austria is significant and continuing to grow, the head of the country's counterterrorism office said on Tuesday.
This sector of Austrian society is "recruiting, enlisting, radicalizing" extremists, Director of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) Peter Gridling said in an interview with both the O1 Morgenjournal radio program and the Austria Press Agency.
He said the large-scale raids conducted against a Salafist network in Graz and Vienna last week were targeted at part of this milieu.
The investigations being conducted in that instance are taking this milieu into account too, not only persons wishing to engage in "Jihadist" activities themselves, he said.
He further noted the extremist preacher, known as Mirsad O., currently in prison on a 20-year sentence, as being a strong influencing factor here. While not being able to have as strong a presence from behind bars, he was active on the Internet.
