German police arrest Syrian suspected of bomb plot

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

A 22-year-old Syrian suspected of planning a bomb attack in Germany has been arrested, police said Monday.

Saxony criminal police chief Joerg Michaelis said the suspect, Jaber al-Bakr, was captured Sunday night and had allegedly acquired materials to build highly-charged explosives; Al-Bakr was also suspected of having ties to Daesh.

“The explosive material found at his apartment corresponds to the ones used in the attacks of Paris and Brussels,” Michaelis told a press conference in Dresden.

Special police units raided al-Bakr’s apartment in Chemnitz Saturday, after receiving a tip-off from the German domestic intelligence agency, BfV.

During the search, 100 grams of explosive material triacetone triperoxide, also known as TATP, was found.

“This explosive is exceptionally sensitive, highly explosive and unstable,” Michaelis said.

Jaber al-Bakr managed to flee the apartment before the police raid, but he was captured later Sunday night in Leipzig, about 85 kilometers (53 miles) north of Chemnitz.

Police had launched a massive manhunt for his arrest Saturday, asking citizens to help them in identifying his whereabouts.

Michaelis said the main suspect, al-Bakr, had been overpowered by fellow Syrians in Leipzig, who then reported him to the police.

Saxony’s Interior Minister Markus Ulbig said Jaber al-Bakr and his flatmate Khalil A. arrived in Germany last year and were given refugee status.

Authorities arrested Khalil A. Saturday on the suspicion he assisted al-Bakr in the alleged bomb plot.

Ulbig declined to comment on possible targets allegedly planned by the suspects, saying the investigation was still in an initial stage.

Earlier, local media claimed investigators believe the suspects were planning to attack an airport in Germany.