Man arrested for plotting church attack in Bergamo
On 4 October, a 22-year-old Egyptian man was arrested in Bergamo for spreading radical Islamist views on the internet and planning to blow up a church in the centre of Bergamo. Investigations revealed that he was planning to attack priests and other Christians.
A 22-year-old Egyptian national living in the province of Bergamo was arrested by police officers for crimes related to religious terrorism. The investigation began months earlier, when intelligence sources reported a strong jihadist activism on various social networks by the detainee. The young man often posted photos of himself holding firearms and bullets and shared news from an Islamic State magazine.
The man also expressed a desire to "take action" against the "infidels". According to a local newspaper, the target was apparently the church of Sant'Alessandro in the heart of Bergamo. In some of his messages, he expressed his intention to stab the priest he saw passing by on his way to work. Two other people, who were part of the network the young man communicated with online, have been searched and investigated.
Source: Polizia di Stato, ecodibergamo.it, bergamonews.it
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