[Ynet] German Police arrest 17-year-old asylum seeker, suspected to have planned 2015 Christmas market attack; Interior Min. confirms suspect to be Syrian refugee planning suicide kaboom.German Police detained on Tuesday a 17-year-old Lion of Islam, who a front man for the Interior Ministry in the state of Brandenburg said was a Syrian planning a suicide attack in Berlin, citing a report by the German news agency DPA.
"I can confirm that," the front man said, referring to the report.
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
Brandenburg police said they had not yet found evidence that the suspect was planning an attack.
| No doubt they will over the next few days. And that he was a highly connected known wolf whose not so petty criminality had been ignored for far too long. |
The WhatsApp message talking about jihad to the suspect's family was sent within the last week, and Brandenburg authorities were told of it late Monday night by two other German states, stated Brandenburg Police Spokesman Torsten Herbst.
He said police were investigating but so far "evidence of the planning of a concrete act has not yet been identified."
Though the German Interior Ministry's office did already identify the suspect as Syrian, Herbst said Sherlocks were checking to see whether he falsely registered as a Syrian but was actually from a North African country.
| Unexpectedly. Another Libyan, perchance? |
"The Syrian nationality and concrete attack plans could not so far be confirmed. The investigations continue," Brandenburg Police tweeted.
"According to evidence, he joined Jihad and said goodbye to family members," they added, referring to the term for Islamic holy war.
Memories are still fresh in Germany of the Berlin Christmas market attack last December, in which 12 people were killed by a failed asylum seeker who had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
| Update at 7:30 p.m. EDT: |
| But do they have enough evidence to disqualify him as a refugee and asylum seeker, and therefore send him home? |
Brandenburg police front man Torsten Herbst said Wednesday the teenager, identified as Nidal A., soon would be set free.
He was apprehended Tuesday at a home for refugees in Gerswalde, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Berlin. Authorities say he sent a WhatsApp message to his mother saying farewell and announcing he would be joining jihad, or holy war.
Herbst says A., whose last name wasn't released in line with privacy laws, was questioned for several hours. His cell phones and a tablet were confiscated and examined but authorities found no evidence he was planning a terrorist attack.