Germany — Three arrested on suspicion of a terrorist attack

DUESSELDORF, 2 October /ATSH-DPA/ – Three people have been detained in Germany on suspicion of planning an act constituting a threat to national security. Security sources said the suspects were believed to have ideological links to the terrorist organisation Islamic State (ISIS).

Special forces arrested last night a German citizen and two Syrian citizens in the cities of Hagen and Unna. According to security sources, the domestic intelligence service of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia had kept the three under surveillance since the beginning of this year.

The suspects had been placed under ever closer surveillance after the authorities established that they were becoming further radicalised. According to the sources, they had exchanged plans with one another to carry out an attack.

As their plans became more concrete, the intelligence services shared the information with the police, who then planned their detention before any action could be taken.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister, Herbert Reul, on Friday welcomed the cooperation between the security institutions. He said the security mechanism works when all its links cooperate. According to Reul, the three were “lost in fantasies of carrying out attacks” and believed they were invisible to the authorities.