Syrian arrested in Germany over alleged terror plot

A 19-year-old Syrian national has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting a terror attack, police said.

According to a statement from the Federal Prosecutor General's Office on Tuesday, the individual identified as Yamen A. is under "strong suspicion" of having taken concrete preparatory steps to carry out an "Islamist-motivated" terror attack in Germany, Xinhua reported.

The suspect is believed to have aimed to kill as many civilians as possible with a highly-explosive TATP bomb and acquired chemicals and other necessary components towards this end from July 2017 onwards.

The 19-year old was taken into custody when special forces from the Federal Police and Federal Criminal Police Office raided his apartment in the Northern German town of Schwerin early on Tuesday morning.

It remained unclear at a subsequent press conference whether the suspect had already chosen a specific location to carry out his purported attack.

Police spokesperson Ulf Wundrack confirmed that other locations aside from the suspect's Schwerin apartment were searched by security forces as well, including in the port city of Hamburg.

Wundrack told reporters that police had hereby offered "administrative support" for the Federal Criminal Police Office. A further witness in Hamburg was questioned, but no arrests were made.

While Yamen A. had contacted a self-described "soldier of the caliphate", who was a supporter of the Islamic State (IS), on the internet prior to his arrest, police were unclear about the identity and role assumed by this second individual in the terror plot.

Security forces said there was no evidence as yet that Yamen A. was a member of a larger terrorist organisation.

Yamen A. had been under permanent supervision from special forces after the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Criminal Police Office launched criminal investigations into his case on October 21.

In response to the widely-publicized arrest, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere thanked security authorities for preventing a "serious terror attack in Germany" and praised them for their "excellent work".

Nevertheless, de Maiziere warned that the risk of a terror attack against civilians in Germany remained high.

--IANS

pgh/