A 21-year-old man was taken into custody in Magdeburg last Friday after expressing plans to carry out an attack. The plans could be based on Islamist motives, as a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry in Saxony-Anhalt confirmed when asked.
The arrest was intended to prevent a possible attack on large crowds. The Volksstimme newspaper was the first to report on the incident.
No details were initially available on the background to the case or on how specific the man’s statements were. Nor was anything known at first about a possible location for the attack. According to the speaker, the 21-year-old remains in custody. According to information from dpa, the young man, who was in training, is said to have made statements that indicate his intention to carry out an attack.
The Ministry of the Interior in Magdeburg stated on request that it is currently preparing a deportation based on a ‘fact-based prognosis to avert a particular danger to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany or a terrorist threat’. The 21-year-old will be placed in so-called preparatory detention in preparation for the deportation order.
The Christmas market season is of particular importance to the authorities responsible for averting danger, the Ministry of the Interior added. This is especially true in view of the current national and international security situation and against the backdrop of the rampage on December 20, 2024, at the Magdeburg Christmas market.
‘The police assessment of the security situation shows that Christmas markets are subject to a particular abstract threat due to the high number of visitors expected, their mostly central location, the variety of access options and their Christian symbolism.’ The security authorities had repeatedly pointed this out again this year and were therefore highly sensitised to potential attacks or rampages.
Just last Friday, several men were arrested on suspicion of planning an attack on a Christmas market in Lower Bavaria. This became known over the weekend. According to the current state of the investigation, there were no plans for an attack on a specific day or at a specific Christmas market, as Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) said.
According to the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office, investigators believe the motive to be Islamist. Arrest warrants were issued for four of the men on Saturday. One was taken into preventive custody.
The arrests took place just under a year after the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market. A 51-year-old man from Saudi Arabia drove a rental car through the crowd at the Christmas market. A 9-year-old boy and five women aged between 45 and 75 were killed.
More than 300 other people were injured. The man is currently on trial in Magdeburg. The doctor is accused of multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. The Attorney General’s Office is also charging the man with grievous bodily harm.