They apparently wanted to ram a vehicle into a Christmas market: Bavarian police have arrested three Moroccans, one Egyptian and one Syrian. Investigators now believe they have a strong motive for the crime, and the suspects are in custody.
Following the arrest of five men on suspicion of planning an attack on a Christmas market in Bavaria, investigators believe the motive to be Islamist. The investigation into the case continued on Sunday, according to the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office and the police. According to the information released, the arrests ‘probably prevented a possible attack on a Christmas market in the Dingolfing-Landau area’ in Lower Bavaria.
Five men had previously been arrested on suspicion of committing the crime. Arrest warrants were issued for four of them, while one of the men was taken into preventive custody, as confirmed by the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Bild newspaper had previously reported on the case.
According to reports, the suspects are three Moroccans aged 30, 28 and 22, as well as an Egyptian and a Syrian. The 56-year-old Egyptian is said to be a prayer leader who allegedly called on the three Moroccans, who were also arrested, to carry out an attack. He is said to have announced the plans in a mosque in the Dingolfing-Landau area and called for them to be carried out.
The involvement of the Syrian suspect is still unclear, which is why he is being held in preventive custody. According to reports in the Bayern media group’s newspapers, the men were arrested during a special forces operation in the area of the Suben border crossing.
According to the reports, the arrests on Friday were preceded by ‘intensive investigations’ in which the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution was also involved. They were led by the Bavarian Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism at the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators stated that no foreign intelligence service was involved.
The plan was ‘to carry out an attack on a Christmas market using a vehicle,’ a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office told t-online. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann expressed his gratitude to all those involved. ‘This case impressively demonstrates the responsiveness and effectiveness of our security authorities and shows that we are capable of protecting our citizens! Thanks to the excellent cooperation between our security authorities, several suspects were arrested in a very short time, thereby preventing a potential Islamist-motivated attack in Bavaria.’
The Egyptian is suspected of attempted murder, while the three Moroccans are accused of agreeing to commit murder. On Saturday, the suspects were brought before a magistrate in Munich.
The public prosecutor’s office had applied for arrest warrants against four of the five men, which were also issued on Saturday. Four suspects are now in custody in various prisons, while the fifth man has been taken into preventive custody.