A group of far-right
extremists planned to blow up a mosque near Siena before
changing their minds for fear of being caught, police said after
placing 12 people under investigation and arresting two of them
in and around Siena on Tuesday.
The group planned to blow up the mosque at Colle Val d'Elsa
near Siena by blowing up a gas pipe, police said.
One of the group is heard on a wiretap saying "he had brought
the maps, we wanted him to blow up the gas thingy so that the
whole lot would have been blown up", police said.
They allegedly dropped the plan fearing that the police would
catch them.
The two arrested were Andrea Chesi, 60, a bank worker, and
his son Yuri, aged 22.
They were arrested on charges of possessing explosives and
parts of war ordnance.
Police in Florence and Siena on Tuesday placed the 12 people
under investigation in the probe into potentially subversive
far-right extremist militants.
The suspects are being probed for possession of weapons with
the aim of setting up an association with subversive ends,
police said.
DIGOS security police carried out raids of homes and offices
in the province of Siena, police said.
The suspects allegedly hailed racial hatred and fascism,
police said.
One of them, aged 60, posted phots of him wearing a uniform
with SS insignia on social media, riding a military sidecar.
In another photo, tagged "harking back to the good old days",
he is holding a rocket launcher.
In another he is photographed on the site of Benito
Mussolini's execution by partisans while making a sign that he
is shooting a sign belonging to partisan association ANPI.
In the past, the man allegedly bought a lathe to make
silencers for pistols for "half of Siena", police said.
In another, he said his grandsons would have to fight "with
arms against the peril of Islam".
Another man, aged 66, belonging to the neofascist Movimento
Idea Sociale (MIS) group, allegedly said he had quarelled with
foreigners at his workplace and "they should all be killed".
Police said the suspects were "of a certain age" and did not
have criminal records.
A lot of material was seized including weapons for which the
suspects had licenses, police said.
Explosives were found at one of the raided premises, police
said, and a bomb squad was called in.
Police said the raids and searches were carried out at
Sovicille, Poggibonsi, and the centre of Siena.
"At the moment we have not found evidence of links to
existing extreme right political groups," police said.
"The searches are the first act in a probe that has to be
developed," said Florence anti-mafia unit chief prosecutor
Giuseppe Creazzo.
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