Local authorities in Italy have taken four people into custody after finding out that the suspects were plotting to bomb the Iconic Rialto Bridge in Venice. The police have been trying to monitor the group's actions for over a year and recently, they were able to get a hold of vital information that appeared to be a threat to bomb the bridge.
According to Independent, a phone call was intercepted by the police where one of the four suspects was caught saying,"You'll go straight to paradise because of all the non-believers in Venice...blow up the Rialto." A different person at the other end of the line also responded,"Put it there and then...boom."
The police identified that three of the four suspects were from Kosovo. Fisnik Bekaj (25), Dake Haziraj (26) and Arjan Barbaj (28) were all captured in an apartment unit at Calle de la Mandola which is a main street in Venice that leads people up to the Rialto Bridge. The three were also with a fourth unidentified suspect who was a minor.
Metro reported that the group was caught watching and studying knife attacks from videos of Islamic extremists. Police stated that they were also trying to figure out how to conceal a bomb in backpack. One of the suspects even said, "We must die. If I swear allegiance to ISIS tomorrow and they give me the order, I'll be obliged to kill."
Manuela Malandra, the apartment administrator's wife, was already suspicious when she saw that the boys were always alone and that men always stopped by the place. However, she did consider them as "well-behaved boys."
Now, a lot of locals and tourists are talking about the incident but one of the gondoliers that work near the famous bridge said that the bomb plot won't really affect tourism. But Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro won't be complacent and has dispatched search teams to 12 sites in Venice.
