‘ISIS jihadis’ who ‘celebrated Westminster attack’ are arrested in Italy over plot to blow up Brit tourists at Venice’s Rialto Bridge
THREE suspected ISIS jihadis from Kosovo and a young girl have been arrested in Venice on suspicion of plotting to blow up the city's historic Rialto Bridge.
The men, who were apparently recorded celebrating last week's attack on Westminster, allegedly planned to put a bomb under the bridge that is popular with British tourists.
Adelchi d'Ippolito, the Venice prosecutor in charge of the case, said one of the alleged jihadi plotters was secretly recorded saying: "With all the unbelievers there are in Venice, you put a bomb under the Rialto and you go straight to heaven."
Mr d'Ippolito added in a press conference: "That was one of the most worrying and alarming remarks we heard."
The three men arrested in the romantic tourist hotspot have been named as Haziraj Dake, Babaj Arjan and Bekaj Fisnik.
Along with the young girl, who has not been named, the men had been under surveillance since last year.
They were detained in an overnight sweep carried out after it was established that they had undergone "religious radicalisation", according to a police statement.
Raids were conducted at 12 locations in the historic centre of the city - which is a magnet for millions of visitors from around the world.
D'Ippolito said the suspects appeared to have been studying how to build explosives but did not have the necessary components for making a bomb.
He said of the wiretaps: "There was a lot of talk about unconditional support to ISIS (the Islamic State group). It wasn't just theory and dogma," d'Ippolito said of the wiretaps.
They were also envisioning moving on to "planning and projects."
Media reports have also suggested that wiretaps recorded the men celebrating last week's attack on Westminster that left four innocent people dead.
Interior Minister Marco Minniti praised the police for what he called "an important success in our terrorism prevention effort" in Venice today.
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges that span Venice's Grand Canal, first built at the end of the 12th century.
The bridge as it stands is an arched stone construction which dates from the late 16th century and is popular with tourists.
It was the only way of crossing the Grand Canal on foot for the best part of three centuries.
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