Suspicion of terrorism in North Rhine-Westphalia: Three men in custody after attack plans
Security authorities arrested three men in Hagen and Unna who are said to have connections to IS.
Quick Look
- After three men were taken into custody in Hagen and Unna, there are increasing indications of proximity to the IS terrorist militia.
- The authorities have been monitoring the suspects since the beginning of the year due to increasing radicalization and concrete attack plans.
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Why It Matters
The police in North Rhine-Westphalia can preventively take terrorist suspects into custody for up to 14 days if ordered by a judge. The three men have been under surveillance since the beginning of the year due to increasing radicalization.
After three men were taken into custody in Hagen and Unna, new details become known: According to security circles, there is a suspicion of ideological proximity to the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS). The North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution had been targeting the men since the beginning of the year. Recently, the danger of implementing attack plans has become more and more concrete.
According to the security circles, the men - a German (33) who converted to Islam and two Syrians (20, 24) - were monitored more and more intensively because they had become more radicalized. They had repeatedly exchanged attack ideas and plans with each other.
When the plans became more concrete, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution presented its findings in a so-called case conference and the police planned preventive access, the dpa learned.
Reul: “These guys lost themselves in attack fantasies”
A special operations team took the men into custody on Thursday evening. The police in North Rhine-Westphalia are allowed to preventively take people into custody for up to 14 days in a suspected terrorist case if a judge decides so. If the suspicion is not confirmed, custody must be lifted.
NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said on Friday: “The North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the NRW police showed yesterday how well our security architecture works when all the cogs mesh together. These guys lost themselves in fantasies of attacks and believed they were invisible. But: Our Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees more than they would like, and our police strike before they do.”
Open Questions
- How specific were the attack plans?
- Will charges be brought against the men?
