Terror attack planned? 20-year-old still in custody

Crime - Terror attack planned? 20-year-old still in custody

He is said to have planned to attack visitors to a Christmas market: Police in Lower Saxony are investigating a 20-year-old on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack.

Investigators see the Christmas market in Hanover as a possible target - "we can't rule that out at the moment", a spokesperson for the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office told the German Press Agency. According to the LKA, the man is still in police custody.

Further arrests

Most recently, two young people aged 15 and 16 were arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg for allegedly planning an attack on a Christmas market. The 20-year-old was taken into custody in Helmstedt on November 21. According to the State Office of Criminal Investigation, the police had received information that the suspect from Saxony-Anhalt was planning a serious act of violence. The LKA did not want to give any further details for tactical investigation reasons.

According to information from security circles, the young Iraqi, who had only been in Germany since last year, had thought about attacking visitors to a Christmas market with a knife. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating him for supporting a terrorist organization abroad. The asylum application of the man, who had found a job in Lower Saxony, is said to have been rejected a few days ago.

Worried about the Christmas market visit?

Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens previously told NDR about the suspect: "He has announced that he obviously wants to carry out attacks in connection with major events during the Christmas period, and that is why we have taken him into preventive custody."

With regard to the security situation at Christmas markets, Behrens said that the police there were "very clear and robust" - partly because of the armed conflict in the Middle East. "We still have Islamists," she emphasized.

According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, there is currently no specific threat situation, but a "high abstract threat". The Gaza war has exacerbated the security situation nationwide. All Christmas markets have a security concept, and an increased police presence is also intended to secure the markets. A ministry spokesperson spoke of a "very volatile security situation".

The Hanover police department stated that an "appropriate number of officers" were on duty at the Christmas market there. A so-called mobile police station was to serve as a contact point for visitors who wanted to make a report or give information to the police. This year, the Christmas market will also be monitored by several cameras in the Old Town area.

Similar to the methods of the IS

The two young people from North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg arrested on suspicion of terrorism are in custody. They are said to have sympathized with the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS). According to the public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf, they are said to have agreed to kill visitors to a Christmas market in Leverkusen by exploding a van at the beginning of December.

The 15-year-old arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia is said to have already procured petrol, but no fuel was found during searches. There had been a "very concrete thought model" for planning the crime, said senior public prosecutor Holger Heming. However, there was no evidence that the two had procured a small truck.

According to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office, the youths are said to have planned their attack based on the goals and methods of IS. There was talk of ideologically based sympathizers, not actual membership or actual contact.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the younger man is accused, among other things, of conspiracy to commit a crime, namely treacherous murder with base motives, as well as preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state.

The alleged plans of the young people - the 15-year-old is a German-Afghan, the 16-year-old has Russian citizenship - are reminiscent of the attack at the Memorial Church in Berlin on December 19, 2016. Back then, an Islamist terrorist crashed a truck into the Christmas market. A total of 13 people died, one of them years later as a result.

Germany-wide threat situation

According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, preventive detention can initially last a maximum of 14 days following a judicial decision under the state's police law. This can be extended by a further 14 days following a review by a judge. In the context of averting danger, a final extension of seven days is therefore possible.

The Bremen police have also stated that the security authorities currently have no information that would indicate a specific threat to Christmas markets in Bremen. However, the threat situation in Germany and Europe remains unchanged and Christmas markets are of particular importance due to the expected high number of visitors, their mostly central location and open access. The Bremen police's security concept also provides for protection against crossing and the use of various barriers.