Police are reporting that they have prevented a terror attack in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with authorities saying the 17-year-old German-Turk suspect likely had Islamic motivations.
The teenager was arrested by the State Criminal Police but remains in prison without charges for now.
The senior public prosecutor, Bernd Winterfeldt, stated that the 17-year-old is being investigated for “preparing a serious act of violence, endangering the state, and conspiring to commit a crime, namely murder.”
Much like the infamous Berlin Christmas market attack from 2016, the youth was also planning to drive a truck into a Christmas market, according to police. The arrest of the teen took place last week, on Wednesday evening.
A tip related to the attack reportedly came from U.S. intelligence services. From that point, German intelligence listened in on his conversations and reviewed his message history.
In recent months, Islamist-motivated terrorist attacks have been stopped by German security services. In June, two young people planned to attack a Christmas market in Leverkusen-Opladen. They have since been sentenced to prison.
In December 2023, a group of Tajiks who supported Islamic State were arrested for a planned attack on the Cologne Cathedral and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. One of them has committed suicide in prison.
Several Islamic attacks have been deadly in recent months, including the attack on Solingen’s Festival of Diversity that resulted in three deaths and the attack in Mannheim that saw a police officer lose his life.
In 2016, 24-year-old Tunisian migrant Anis Amri rammed his truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and wounding many more. He was later shot and killed by Italian police in Milan.
