Italian police raid 17 suspects including 14 minors over neo-Nazi chat groups

Nationwide search warrants and suspect demographics

Italian law enforcement authorities executed 17 search warrants across multiple regions targeting an online extremist network linked to neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology. The coordinated operation focused on 17 individuals, comprising 14 minors and three adults suspected of participating in radical accelerationist channels. Investigators served personal, residential, and digital device search warrants to collect evidence and dismantle online communication groups. The suspects face formal allegations of criminal incitement, dissemination of propaganda motivated by racial, ethnic, and religious hatred, and training for terrorist activities. Judicial authorities applied statutory aggravating factors related to terrorism across the investigated offenses due to the organized advocacy of violence against protected groups.

Judicial coordination across Italian provinces

The counter-extremism operation was directed by the public prosecutor's office of Venice alongside the ordinary and juvenile prosecutors' offices in Rome. Field operations were carried out jointly by the Carabinieri Special Operational Group (ROS) and the State Police political investigations division (DIGOS). Regional Carabinieri provincial commands assisted the operation in Rome, Como, Catanzaro, Bologna, Milan, Reggio Emilia, Benevento, Genoa, Udine, Palermo, and Trento. Police actions were led by the Verona DIGOS under the strategic coordination of the Central Directorate of Prevention Police, with operational support from DIGOS teams in Naples, Benevento, Brescia, and Trento. Law enforcement teams deployed across northern, central, and southern Italian territories to serve warrants at all target locations simultaneously.

Extremist chat channels and propaganda distribution

The investigation identified two primary digital communication hubs titled Chat del Nuovo Ordine Europeo and Fronte Fascista Italiano. Within these closed groups, participants systematically circulated manifestos, documents, and execution videos celebrating mass shooters, including Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque attacks. Content circulated within the chats included systematic Holocaust denial, exaltations of Adolf Hitler, the SS, and historical fascism, alongside targeted hostility toward Jewish, Black, and homosexual communities. Members also promoted materials from the international supremacist organization The Base to reinforce accelerationist alignment among participants. In addition to textual propaganda, users organized online video gaming sessions configured to simulate the murder and virtual execution of ethnic minorities.

Operational manuals and weapons seizures

Beyond ideological discourse, the investigated channels functioned as technical repositories for operational paramilitary training and attacks. Members shared detailed technical manuals for the domestic fabrication of improvised explosive devices, complete with specific instructions to increase blast power and physical lethality. The networks distributed self-training handbooks covering direct action tactics and instructions on the handling and tactical use of firearms and bladed weapons. Searches of suspects' residences across the targeted provinces led to the seizure of knives and other edged weapons, banners, and physical items bearing Nazi iconography. Police forensic technicians also confiscated numerous digital devices, laptops, and mobile phones utilized by the suspects to administer the chats and disseminate materials.