German Police Detain Lebanese Terror Suspect in Bomb Plot
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
German police on Thursday detained a Lebanese-German and a Gazan suspected of obtaining potential ingredients for a bomb and searched an Islamic center where the pair had spent time.
The arrests came three days before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and followed a weekend statement by the interior minister that threats to Germany remained "real and intensive."
They also came ahead of a planned visit to Berlin by Pope Benedict XVI later this month.
The suspects, a 24-year-old German of Lebanese descent and a 28-year-old from Gaza, were detained by officers in their Berlin apartments that were then searched for evidence, Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said.
The men, who were not otherwise identified, are suspected of planning "a violent criminal act," and police had watched them for several months, Neuendorf said.
Unlike Britain or the United States, Germany does not have a state of alert, but maintains security through increased measures often not immediately visible to the public.
The Islamic center being searched was located in the heavily immigrant Wedding neighborhood. Some 10 police vans were seen around a building in a formerly industrial area. A sign on the building read "Ar-Rahman Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center for Religious Enlightenment."
"They are searching for chemical substances that can be used to make an explosive device," Neuendorf said.
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany's top security official, told the Passauer Neue Presse agency over the weekend that authorities "work intensively" to prevent attacks. German officials say they have thwarted several attacks since the 2001 assault that killed thousands in the U.S.
A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office said it had launched a probe against the men on "suspicion of preparing a major violent crime against the state.”
Authorities say they had acquired several coolants and an acid normally used in farming with the aim of building an explosive, the daily Berliner Morgenpost reported.
The suspects regularly attended the mosque in Wedding and occasionally spent the night there, the newspaper said, adding that the probe began when the companies where the chemicals were ordered reported the suspicious purchases to police.
08 September 2011, 12:54
32
Once identified, it will be obvious taht the so called lebanese is not truly a lebanese. Either an arab, or an imposter. Us lebanese are not people of violence and criminal acts. The fact taht he is associating with a palestenian gives one a good idea what sort of lebanese he is. Lebanon first
08 September 2011, 13:33
23
lol....lebanese are saints....of course the civil war was waged by aliens...
08 September 2011, 13:35
61
ELI: do your research and you will find that he is a Lebanese Sunni funded by a Middle Eastern fanatic... then we wonder why us Lebanese have to suffer discrimination in Europe and US!
08 September 2011, 13:39
03
lebanese are not capable of violent action? What do u call the Hezbollah assassination of former PM Hariri?
08 September 2011, 15:12
00
Lebanese are peaceful people who would not harm a fly... unless it is from a difference sectarian group lol...
08 September 2011, 16:08
00
Regardless of his name..origins etc..the man is living in germany, HE IS GERMAN; I assume raised in germany. this is a German failure, not a Lebanese one. His origins can be anything.. he could have been a son of palestinian refugees in Lebanon, or of Lebanese..sunni or shia or whatever.. he can also be a born again christian..we don t know anything yet. He is a German problem, not ours to deal with..unless of course we discover that he trained in Lebanon and bought his chemicals here too..
08 September 2011, 17:38
01
constantly deteriorating our image abroad.. i wonder why get these pple who are good at nothing into such countries in the first place.
08 September 2011, 17:39
00
German Police Detain Two Over Suspected Terror Plot
September 08, 2011
German police say they have detained two men in Berlin on suspicion of obtaining chemicals that could be used to make a bomb.
They were identified as a 24-year-old German of Lebanese descent and a 28-year-old from the Gaza Strip.
Police early on September 8 searched their apartments and also an Islamic cultural center in the German capital where the two men spent time.
A spokesman said the two men, who were not named, were suspected of planning a "violent criminal act."
Police were searching for chemical substances that can be used to make a bomb.
08 September 2011, 17:58
10
Hopefully soon the Lebanese police will arrest Hariri's Al Qaeda - Akkar and Tripoli Brigades.
09 September 2011, 01:31
00
I will be blunt, while trying not to be a racist, and offebding anyone. I make the following points:
I know lots of palestenians, kurds, and others who hold lebanese passports.
I do not consider that HizSyRan 's loyalty to lie with Lebanon, hence not true lebanese.
Long live democratic and civilised lebanon
09 September 2011, 01:40
00
I would like to add that perhaps it upsets me to no end when I hear stories like this one which brings Lebanon and the lebanese to shame. I am a proud lebanese who prides himself on teh achievement of the honest, good, and true lebanese people out there.
