An Islamist arrested in Hamburg for suspected attack plans may also have had organic supermarkets targeted. According tothe weekly DER SPIEGEL, investigators found an explosive note from autumn 2020 on one of Abdurrahman C.’s mobile phones. They believe it to be a draft of an extortion letter addressed to a chain of organic supermarkets.
In it, C. is said to have threatened attacks if he did not receive a five-digit euro sum transferred via cryptocurrency. The authorities are puzzling over the motive behind the note. One theory is that the Islamist was considering using blackmail to finance his terrorist plans. However, the threatening note was probably never sent.
Abdurrahman C., 20, had already been arrested in a feigned arms deal in the summer, the Hamburg police made this public a week ago. According to the report, the German-Moroccan had tried to buy a pistol and a hand grenade on the Darknet, but was caught by an undercover investigator.
During a search of a flat used by C. in mid-November, state agents discovered chemicals for the construction of a potentially lethal explosive device: one kilo of potassium nitrate, one kilo of sulphur, half a kilo of charcoal dust, hundreds of screws and nuts, plus other bomb components.
In the meantime, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the terror proceedings. C.’s defence lawyer did not answer a question about the charges.
Before the investigations, the German-Moroccan was known to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an extended contact of Hamburg Islamists, but was not considered a protagonist of the scene. According to SPIEGEL information, his father supported Islamists associated with the 9/11 bombers and was co-responsible for the notorious Al-Quds mosque on Hamburg’s Steindamm. The death pilots of 9/11 had also prayed there. It has since been closed by the security authorities.