On the morning of October 29, Carabinieri from the Special Operations Group (ROS), supported by the Milan Provincial Command, detained a 22-year-old man from San Giuliano Milanese. He is under investigation on charges of training for activities with terrorist purposes, including international terrorism. A pre-trial detention order was issued by the investigating judge of the Milan Court following an investigation by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office.
According to investigators, the young man planned to carry out attacks on a Jewish synagogue and an Islamic place of worship in the Milan metropolitan area. Some reports identify possible targets as the synagogue on Via Guastalla in Milan and an Islamic site in San Donato Milanese. He had meticulously worked out methods for manufacturing explosive devices and modifying firearms, engaged in ongoing self-training for terrorist purposes, and searched for chemical substances suitable for making explosives.
Analysis of his electronic devices revealed materials of a supremacist, accelerationist, and xenophobic nature, as well as content denying the Holocaust. These included ideological “testaments” and texts by Anders Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utøya. In one of the documents, the detainee wrote: “The time has come for someone to do something. I’m afraid to act alone, but if, while I’m working out a plan, I don’t find anyone by my side, I’ll do it anyway. I’ll do it for the future. I feel like a soldier and I know that my war has already begun, even though I’m still organizing it. But I’ll get there, believe me.”
According to sources, the 22-year-old man had no previous convictions. He had worked as a warehouse worker but lost his job and lived in isolation with his father and sister in San Giuliano Milanese. His radicalization occurred without the family’s knowledge; the first searches took place back in August. Investigators describe him as a “lone wolf” who, according to his own writings, feared an “Islamic invasion” and the “end of the white race.”
The investigation is ongoing. Law enforcement authorities emphasize that the arrest resulted from the analysis of digital traces and prevented preparations for attacks on sites of two different faiths.
