Hannes Gulnbrein, head of the Cobra task force (EKO), was retired this week by Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP). The top official will retire at the end of the month, the ministry said in a broadcast on Sunday. When asked by APA, it is still unclear who will succeed at the head of the special unit. Gulnbrein played leading roles in several large-scale operations – up to and including the terrorist attack in Vienna in 2020.
Gulnbrein, born in 1958, joined the Vienna Federal Police Headquarters in 1983 before becoming commander of the Cobra Vienna task force in 2005 after a number of career stops. Thanks to his professional expertise and international contacts, he was involved in numerous foreign assignments, the broadcast recalled.
Among other things, he acted as an advisor to the chief negotiator of the foreign office in the kidnapping case of two Austrian citizens who had been kidnapped by the Al-Qaeda in 2008 and was instrumental in the release of the hostages. In the 2020 terrorist attack in Vienna, Gulnbrein played a central role as a member of the task force of the Vienna State Police Headquarters and did coordination work. He received multiple awards for his services.
Gulnbrein was promoted from major general to general last Tuesday. “I would like to thank him for his tireless commitment to the safety of the Austrian population and wish him the very best for the future,” Karner said on the occasion. “Throughout his career in the police force, Hannes Gulnbrein always had the police as a whole in mind. Some reforms and further developments in tactical intervention bear his signature,” added Bernhard Treibenreif, Director of the Directorate for Special Units (DSE), which is superordinate to the EKO Cobra .