3 Syrians in Germany nab fugitive

Countryman target of hunt after bomb makings were found

German special police forces secure the perimeter of the district court in Dresden on Monday, after 22-year-old Jaber Albakr was arrested in the eastern city of Leipzig at the end of a nearly two-day manhunt after explosives were found in his apartment Saturday.
German special police forces secure the perimeter of the district court in Dresden on Monday, after 22-year-old Jaber Albakr was arrested in the eastern city of Leipzig at the end of a nearly two-day manhunt after explosives were found in his apartment Saturday.

BERLIN — A Syrian man wanted in the planning of a bombing attack was apprehended by three of his countrymen, who overpowered him, tied him up in their apartment and then alerted police, authorities said Monday.

The overnight arrest of Jaber Albakr ended a nearly two-day nationwide search for the 22-year-old that German authorities began after they found several pounds of explosives and components hidden inside an apartment in the eastern city of Chemnitz on Saturday.

“Tired but overjoyed: we captured the terror suspect last night in Leipzig,” the Saxony police tweeted Monday.

Albakr reportedly came to the country last year as one of the 890,000 migrants who streamed to the country in 2015 and had been granted asylum by German authorities. Joerg Michaelis, chief of Saxony state’s criminal police, said the three Syrians who captured the suspect recognized him from wanted posters police posted online as part of the manhunt.

After taking him to their apartment late Sunday, two of the Syrians bound and held Albakr while the third shared a mobile phone photo of Albakr with a local police station, leading to the arrest early Monday, Michaelis said.

Prosecutors and police said Monday that they considered Albakr an extremist with likely links to the Islamic State militant group. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency had been watching him since September and alerted Saxony authorities about the alleged possible plot Friday, authorities said.

When police raided the apartment in the city of Chemnitz, where he was thought to be staying on Saturday, Albakr was able to flee. Inside the apartment they found 3.3 pounds of “extremely dangerous explosives” and components, according to federal prosecutors.

Michaelis said that, at this stage of the investigation, “the behavior and actions of the suspect currently speak for an [Islamic State] context.” He didn’t elaborate.

A security official said there was no indication yet that Albakr was being directed by the Islamic State but that investigators still were combing through seized evidence. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Police said it was not clear when and how the suspect met up with his three countrymen in Leipzig, about 50 miles from Chemnitz, or whether they already knew him.

Police would not release any further information about the three Syrians who apprehended Albakr. If the signs of his having an extremist background were substantiated, “the people who gave the tip are, of course, in danger,” the police chief said.

Federal prosecutors, who handle terrorism investigations in Germany, said in a statement Monday that they had no indications that a target already had been chosen for an attack.

Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the domestic intelligence agency, later told public broadcaster ARD that his agency’s investigation suggests the suspect had “an eye on the Berlin airports” as potential targets.

A 33-year-old Syrian at whose Chemnitz apartment police found the hidden explosives was arrested over the weekend and is considered a co-conspirator in the alleged bomb plot, prosecutors said.

He was identified only as Khalil A. in keeping with German privacy laws. Albakr’s full identity and photograph had been released while he was on the run and being sought.

The explosives were described as similar to the ones used in the deadly Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and the March 22 attacks in Brussels. Known as TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, it is fairly easy to make and detonate, police said.

“According to everything we know today, the preparations in Chemnitz are similar to the preparations for the attacks in Paris and Brussels,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.

A bomb squad destroyed the explosives Saturday in a pit outside the five-story apartment building because they were considered too dangerous to transport.

The foiled bomb plot comes during ongoing concerns about the flood of asylum seekers that entered Germany last year and increasing support for populist parties with anti-migrant rhetoric.

The country also has been on edge since two attacks in July carried out by asylum seekers and claimed by the Islamic State in which multiple people were injured and the assailants were killed.

Politicians on Monday called for a more thorough vetting of arrivals.

Stephan Mayer, a member of the conservative Christian Social Union, told the Rheinische Post that domestic and foreign intelligence services should be involved more in the questioning of migrants as part of the asylum process.

Information for this article was contributed by Kirsten Grieshaber, Geir Moulson, Frank Jordans and David Rising of The Associated Press and by Stephanie Kirchner of The Washington Post.

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