The suspect was allegedly planning to carry out a suicide bombing attack in the German capital, DPA reports, citing the interior minister of the state of Brandenburg, Karl-Heinz Schroeter.
In a tweet with an attached statement, law enforcement authorities said they had detained a “jihadist” in the community of Uckermark, north of Berlin on the border with Poland.
Dschihadist in der #Uckermark festgesetzt > 17-Jähriger nach Hinweisen einer Familienangehörigen in Gewahrsam genommen. ^sn pic.twitter.com/IoRZDELUim
— Polizei Brandenburg (@PolizeiBB) May 30, 2017
Police followed a tip-off from the federal authorities, which discovered that the suspect had bid farewell to one of his relatives in a message and said that he had “joined jihad,” the statement reads.
According to DPA, the suspect bid farewell to his mother in a WhatsApp message and “clearly stated” that he was planning a terrorist attack.
It is so far unknown how close the suspect was to carrying out a potential attack, police said, adding that investigators have not yet found any evidence proving that he was preparing for a specific assault.
Police also raided the refugee center where the teenager lived, and are questioning the suspect.
Police then said in another Twitter post they have been unable to confirm that the suspect was indeed a Syrian, and said they still had no evidence of any “specific attack plans.”
Die syrische Nationalität und konkrete Anschlagspläne können bisher nicht bestätigt werden. Die Ermittlungen dauern an. #Uckermark ^sw
— Polizei Brandenburg (@PolizeiBB) May 30, 2017
According to preliminary information, the suspect came to Germany “illegally” in 2015 and then submitted an asylum request, police said. He was sent to a center for unaccompanied minors in Uckermark and has lived there since 2016. He apparently was not previously known to law enforcement.
read more- RT
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.