‘I’m ready and waiting like to be on tenterhooks’, wrote Mohammad A. (21). The recipient of the message: a member of the terrorist organisation IS. A. wanted to blow himself up in Germany as a suicide bomber for the Islamists. The Syrian is now on trial in Düsseldorf.
Mohammad A. was arrested in April 2024 and has been in custody ever since. He came to Germany in 2021, most recently lived in communal accommodation in Dinslaken (North Rhine-Westphalia) and worked as a car valet.
The public prosecutor’s accusation is that the Syrian is alleged to have communicated with members of IS using various internet services. Initially it is said to have been about a car bomb and finally about an explosive belt.
From May 2023, A. is said to have received instructions for explosives, including TNT and C4. On the 1st of June 2023, according to the indictment, he replied that he wanted to learn how to make explosives for a car bomb, but that he wanted to practise with a can. To this end, he received internet links with instructions on the necessary substances, such as ammonia, according to the indictment.
On the 24th of June 2023, Mohammad A. is said to have sworn allegiance to IS via the messenger service Telegram at 6.58 pm. The contact is said to have posted at 7.08 p.m.: ‘May Allah accept it from you. According to the indictment, A. communicated with an IS explosives expert and an ‘Ammar’. He is said to have told him that he wanted to get a weapon in order to become a suicide bomber. When asked whether he wanted to commit an attack in ‘’Europe‘’, Mohammad A. is said to have briefly confirmed with ‘’ definitely‘’.
On the 22nd of October 2023, IS is said to have told the accused ‘to use him as an assassin for the association in due course’. But this never happened.
Five days later, ‘Ammar’ got in touch for the last time, saying that Mohammad A. was now scheduled as a suicide bomber and that their contact was no longer necessary.
Although the communication was conspiratorial, the chat partners switched from Telegram to encrypted Threema and identified themselves using number codes or symbols, the security authorities were able to read the messages. In April 2024, the investigators took action and arrested Mohammad A. The public was not informed.
If convicted, the car valet faces between one and ten years in prison.
Prozess: Mohammad (21) wollte sich für den IS in die Luft sprengen | Regional | BILD.de