An 18-year-old man suspected of planning an extremist attack in Frankfurt was arrested near the German-Austrian border as he attempted to leave the country for Iraq and join the Islamic State group, German investigators said on Thursday.
The man, a German national with Moroccan roots who grew up in Germany, was arrested on Wednesday at a motorway rest area near Passau, Frankfurt prosecutors and the Hessian state criminal police said in a statement.
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The arrest followed an investigation that began last summer. The man, whose name has not been disclosed, is accused of planning a fire attack in Frankfurt, researching online how to make explosive devices and obtaining an edged weapon that he kept in his parents’ garage .
German police have arrested an ISIS-linked suspect in a planned terrorist plot in Frankfurt. (Fox News)
German authorities were alerted by a foreign intelligence service, which Thursday’s statement did not identify. When the suspect’s home was searched in August, investigators found depictions of the Islamic State group’s flag and ideologically charged images of fighting and executions, but could not immediately confirm suspicions that he was planning an attack.
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Further investigations suggested he had postponed his plans for an attack in Frankfurt for fear of detection and could not find enough money to obtain a firearm, authorities said. Instead, he reportedly planned to leave Germany on Wednesday to travel overland to Iraq, where he hoped to join IS, “‘slaughter’ infidels” and fight state institutions.
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The suspect was arrested before he could leave the country and his home was searched again.
