- Title: GERMANY: German police arrest two terror suspects on a plane at Cologne Airport
- Date: 27th September 2008
- Summary: POSTERS SHOWING SUSPECTED TERRORISTS ON WALL OF TERMINAL PEOPLE STANDING AROUND INSIDE TERMINAL
- Embargoed: 12th October 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA66IVWZRKL56YQ0LYR4D32P317
- Story Text: Two men suspected of planning a terrorist attack are arrested on a plane at a German airport.
German police boarded a Dutch airliner at Cologne airport on Friday (September 26) and arrested two men suspected of planning to take part in terrorist attacks.
"This morning at around 0655 (local) two men were arrested on a plane which was about to take off for Amsterdam from Cologne airport. The plane was not stormed and special forces were not used in the operation. Both of the suspects were arrested by the police," said Frank Scheulen, a spokesperson for the State Office of Criminal Investigation.
Police in the North Rhine-Westphalia district of western Germany said there was no indication the two were about to launch an attack when they were removed from the KLM aircraft but that there was significant evidence to arrest them.
"The suspects are a 23-year-old Somalian man and a 24-year-old German who was born in Mogadishu. Both of them are suspected of supporting the Jihad and having planned attacks. Suicide notes have been found," said Scheulen.
The flight, KL1804, continued its journey to Amsterdam just over an hour later.
Somalia is riven by a civil war pitching Islamist rebels against an Ethiopian-backed government. A large number of Somali refugees have moved to western Europe over 17 years of civil conflict.
Unlike Britain and Spain, Germany has not suffered a major recent attack on its own soil but Germans have been fearful since the northern port of Hamburg was used as a base for planning the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. targets.
Interior Minister of the state of North Rhine Westphalia, Ingo Wolf, said there were no firm signs of an imminent attack in Germany.
"We have always said and still say that we are part of a worldwide threat from terrorism but there are no indications of concrete danger at the moment," Wolf said.
Last year, police arrested three men in the western Sauerland region.
Authorities believe they were targeting U.S. installations in Germany.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Crime Office said Friday's arrests were unrelated to a search for two suspected Islamist militants which it had announced on Thursday (September 25). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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