German and Danish state security officials may have succeeded in preventing an Islamist terrorist attack in Europe.
According to the Der Spiegel weekly, police arrested three Syrian brothers in Denmark and Hesse, Germany, on the weekend and seized propaganda materials of the Islamic State and kilos of chemicals. The Naumburg Public Prosecutor’s Office in Germany is investigating the case. The Syrians face allegations of preparing a serious violent act endangering the state.
The Federal Criminal Police Office had received a tip about a suspicious internet order from a dealer in Poland. In January, a 33-year-old Syrian living in Denmark ordered five kilograms of sulfur and five kilograms of aluminum powder from his brother’s address in the German town of Dessau. Both substances are known to be used to make bombs.
Last week, officers of the Saxony-Anhalt State Criminal Police Office searched the apartment. However, the investigators from the special commission “Earth” did not find the chemicals that had been ordered, however, they found kilos of firecrackers, fuses, and other pyrotechnics, as well as a handmade Islamic State flag. In the Quran, passages on the fights against “unbelievers” had been underlined.
There was initially no trace of the 36-year-old Syrian registered in Dessau. The police finally arrested the man on Sunday in Denmark, along with his brother. According to Der Spiegel, the investigators also found the chemicals originally ordered to Saxony-Anhalt as well as other symbols of the terrorist militia during the arrest.
Investigators also arrested a third brother at the weekend in Dietzenbach, Hesse. The 40-year-old is in custody.
The investigators assume that the arrests prevented a terrorist attack, however, it is not clear whether the potential attack would have have taken place in Germany, Denmark, or elsewhere.
