Police decline to arrest the leader of a Neo-Nazi terrorist network because he's 13 years old
The Feuerkrieg Division is the Baltic version of the US-based Atomwaffen Nazi paramilitary. And like their American counterparts, they were planning some murder, specifically with bombs.
Fortunately, authorities were able to put a stop to theses plans once they identified and found their leader - who turned out to be a 13-year-old boy. From Deutsche Welles:
Investigators found the group was headed by a 13-year-old, the German magazinesaid, citing Estonian newspaper Eesti Ekspress. The young man operated online under the name "Commander" and was responsible for the recruitment and admission of new members.
He also shared bomb-making instructions, spoke about planning an attack on London and suggested organizing military training camps in February, to commemorate the "100th birthday" of Adolf Hitler's former political party NSDAP.
A spokesman for the Estonian Internal Security Service told The Associated Press that they had intervened with the 13-year-old Commander's parents in Finland in January, but that, "As the case dealt with a child under the age of 14, this person cannot be prosecuted under the criminal law and instead other legal methods must be used to eliminate the risk. Cooperation between several authorities, and especially parents, is important to steer a child away from violent extremism."
The Feuerkrieg Division has operatives in Germany, Lithuania, and the US, and some of their other leaders have also been apprehended recently. But the group was largely organized online, and according to the Eesti Ekspress, which broke the story, no one seemed to be aware that they were taking orders from a maniacal 13-year-old.
When I was 13, my parents were warning me about creepy adults on the Internet. But it seems that the tables have turned.
Far-right terrorist ringleader found to be teenager in Estonia [Jenipher Camino Gonzalez / Deutsche Welles]
Founder of the "Fire War Division" [Maik Baumgirtner, Roman Hifner, and Roman Lehberger / Spiegel]
He Led a Neo-Nazi Group Linked to Bomb Plots. He Was 13. [Associated Press]
Image: Public Domain via Pixabay