Lawyer for suspect in Taylor Swift Vienna terror plot says accusations are exaggerated

nme.com:

Taylor Swift Vienna terror plot has claimed that the accusations against their client have been exaggerated.Last week, all three of the pop star’s ‘Eras Tour’ shows in Vienna were cancelled, after it was revealed that two people had been arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack during the gigs.Swift was set to play at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium on Thursday (August 8), Friday (9) and Saturday (10), but event organiser Barracuda Music confirmed that it had “no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety”.A 19-year-old main suspect was arrested in Ternitz, south of Vienna, and a second person in the Austrian capital.

It was widely reported that the former had pledged an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group and had reportedly wanted to use knives or self-made explosives outside the Ernst Happel Stadium to kill as many people as possible (via Sky News).It was later reported by numerous outlets that a police search of his house reportedly led to chemicals, explosives, knives and machetes being found.Now, the lawyer representing the suspect – who has not been named in line with Austrian privacy rules – has claimed that the accusations raised against him have been exaggerated.“He had neither the means nor the possibility and the explosives to carry this out,” defense lawyer Werner Tomanek said (as per Associated Press).