Police in Brandenburg have taken a teenager into custody for allegedly attempting to carry out an attack during the Christmas period. This was announced by the investigators. The suspect was arrested on Christmas Day and has been in custody ever since. Special police forces had previously searched his home in the Teltow-Fläming district.
The Potsdam public prosecutor’s office and the police have withheld further information in view of the young man’s personal rights. A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office said that more detailed information could not be provided at present due to the ongoing investigations and the protection of privacy. The authorities also did not provide any further information on the plot.
The investigators had become aware of suspected politically motivated plots during the Christmas period and on Christmas Eve the information had intensified, it said. The public prosecutor’s office also refused to say how the police obtained the decisive tip-off.
The newspaper ‘Tagesspiegel’ reported, citing security circles, that the suspect was 15 years old. He has German citizenship and his parents have an Iraqi migration background. Investigators are assuming an Islamist motive, even though the teenager is only said to have made vague plans to attack a church in Berlin during the Christmas period.
The German broadcaster rbb also reported that the target of the attack was a church in Berlin. The teenager had been in contact via Telegram with people suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS). According to the German public broadcaster ARD, a foreign intelligence service is said to have provided the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution with the decisive information.
According to the Tagesspiegel, the Brandenburg law stipulates that a detention period of two weeks can be ordered in cases of suspected terrorism to avert danger, with the possibility of a two-week extension. Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Katrin Lange (SPD) emphasised: ‘It is necessary to comprehensively investigate all indications of a possible threat to public safety. This has been done.’ Lange expressed her gratitude to the officers involved for their efforts. The results of the further investigations now remained to be seen.