Austria Arrests Suspected Syria-Bound Extremist

Local Editor

A Chechen asylum seeker suspected of preparing to join the fights in Syria has been arrested in Austria, police said on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after they detained nine others.

Austrian police said in a statement that the 29-year-old man was arrested on Sunday in the northern town of Heidenreichstein and accused of belonging to a "terrorist organization."

He is believed to have fought in Syria last year [2013] and came to Austria in December for medical treatment and to apply for asylum.

He "had concrete plans to travel back to Syria," police spokesman Markus Haindl told AFP.

Meanwhile, the Austrian government believes some 130 people, 40 of them Austrian nationals, have joined the extremist forces, are heading to join, or have returned. Nine people were arrested last month [August].

Moreover, European countries have tightened controls over potential extremists traveling to and from Syria and Iraq ever since the so-called "Islamic State" [IS] fighters overran large swaths of Iraq in June.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team