Fourteen arrested in Denmark and Germany on suspicion of planning Isil terror attack

Danish police search a property in connection with the arrests

Credit: presse-fotos.dk/ Ritzau

Fourteen people have been arrested in joint police operations in Denmark and Germany on suspicion of planning an Islamist terror attack, it emerged on Friday.

Police discovered chemicals used in making explosives, gunpowder, fuses, guns and Islamic State flags in raids on both sides of the border.

“Our security authorities have once again prevented an Islamist terror attack,” Horst Seehofer, the German interior minister, said in a statement.

“They work hand in hand with their European partners, often unnoticed, but are extremely vigilant. Terrorism is international, and so is our fight against terrorism."

It is not clear which country the terror attack was planned to take place in. 

Eight men and five women are being held in Denmark, while one man is under arrest in Germany. Three of those detained are understood to be brothers from Syria.

The nationalities of the others have not been confirmed, and none have been named.

Flemming Drejer, the head of Denmark's PET domestic intelligence service, announcing the arrests

Credit: Liselotte Sabroe/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The arrests followed a tip-off that one of the three Syrian brothers had ordered several kilograms of chemicals used in bomb-making from a dealer in Poland, according to details leaked to the German media. Although he was resident in Denmark, he ordered them to be delivered to his brother’s home in the German city of Dessau-Rosslau.

When German police raided the address, the Syrian man had fled and there was no sign of the chemicals. Instead, they found 10kg (22lb) of gunpowder, together with fuses and Isil material.

Both the missing Syrian and the chemicals were found by Danish police at his brother’s home in the town of Holbæk. 

“We made some worrying findings in the places we searched,” Flemming Drejer, the head of Denmark’s PET domestic intelligence service, told a press conference.

“We found components and ingredients that, with the right composition, can be used to build a bomb. We found things that can be used as ignition mechanisms and fuses. We found pump action shotguns and a hunting rifle. These are findings that concern us.”

The third brother was arrested in Germany, near Frankfurt. German prosecutors have charged all three with preparing a serious act of violence.