Italian Police Dismantle Anarchist Cell Suspected of Olympic High-Speed Rail Sabotage

Jerusalem, 16 June, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- (Adnkronos) – An anarchist terrorist cell has been dismantled by police as part of an investigation by the Rome prosecutor’s office. Seven suspects were arrested for sabotaging a high-speed railway during February’s Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.

Specifically, the Rome DIGOS (Special Operations Unit), in close collaboration with the Central Directorate of Prevention Police, executed seven precautionary measures against individuals seriously suspected of forming and organizing a criminal group to commit acts of violence aimed at terrorism and subversion of the democratic order.

The group was structured according to methods and methods known and tested within the anarchist movement, an organization rooted in the capital’s territory but also linked to similar groups found in, among other places, Bologna, Forlì-Cesena, Milan, and Naples. Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation by the Rome DIGOS, the seven arrested individuals are charged with conspiracy for the purpose of terrorism or subversion of the democratic order. Two of those arrested are also seriously suspected of participating in the execution of an attack on public utility facilities, disruption of public services, and incitement to commit crime, aggravated by the intent of terrorism.

This specifically concerns the attack carried out on February 14, 2026, against the Rome-Florence high-speed rail network, using crude but highly effective explosives, which caused serious damage to the infrastructure, costing €455,000 to repair.

This sabotage, along with another on the Rome-Naples line, was claimed on the website ispirazione.noblogs.org, created specifically a few months earlier. The statement cited the coincidence with the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and the antimilitarist intent and violent attack on infrastructure.

Reviving the support for Alfredo Cospito, an Italian anarchist imprisoned since 2022 was one of the goals of the anarchist cell dismantled today by the Italian Special Operations Unit (DIGOS). “It’s a great effort, but something has to be done… to force the state to reckon with the fact that keeping an anarchist under the 41-bis regime is a real pain in the ass,” says one suspect in a wiretap reported in the 94-page precautionary measure order.

“The movement is retreating on some practices, which is why we specifically could be the ones insisting on certain types of things (…) direct action and conflict practices can be done and that’s the only way to achieve results,” one wiretap reads.

As part of the enforcement of precautionary measures, with the assistance of the DIGOS (Italian Special Operations Unit) of Milan, Bologna, Naples, Turin, Terni, and Rieti, numerous search warrants issued by the Rome Prosecutor’s Office against suspects were executed. The Roman anarchist center Bencivenga Occupato and other similar centers were also involved .

The widespread nature of criminal activities and the presence of networks and connections, even at the international level, requires significant coordination efforts, primarily by the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate.

“Today too, I applaud the women and men of the State Police and all the investigators who, with the coordination of the judicial authorities whom I thank, with a complex and highly qualified activity, have dismantled a subversive network of anarchist origin active throughout the country that had targeted strategic infrastructures for the country, including that of the high-speed train”, declared the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi.

“The investigations also highlight, once again, how the extremist mobilization campaign that has developed in recent years around the Alfredo Cospito case has continued to fuel, in some radicalized circles, patterns of violence and attacks on democratic institutions,” he concluded. “This operation is a severe blow to the anarchist-insurrectionist network and confirms the police forces’ extremely high capacity for prevention and counteraction, as well as the judiciary’s utmost attention to this front.”