German Police Detain Migrant on Terror Suspicions Case underlines what authorities say is the uncertain terror threat posed by migrant wave By Ruth Bender
http://www.wsj.com/articles/german-police-detain-syrian-migrant-on-terror-suspicions-1478182147
BERLIN—German police detained an asylum seeker suspected of plotting an attack for Islamic State, the federal prosecutor’s office said Thursday, the latest evidence of a mounting terror threat posed by the arrival last year of hundreds of thousands of migrants into the country.
The 27-year-old man, identified by federal prosecutors as Ashraf Al-T., allegedly received approval from an ISIS operative in Syria to carry out an attack on Germans in the near future, the prosecutor’s office said.
The man was taken into custody in Berlin late Wednesday, and his apartment in the city’s Schöneberg district was searched, according to the prosecutor. By the end of the day Thursday, the suspect will go before an investigating judge with the federal supreme court, who will decide if there is sufficient evidence to keep holding the man.
The nationality of the suspect who arrived in Germany in 2015 remained unclear. Police initially identified the man as Syrian but an official familiar with the case said he might in fact be a Tunisian who used Syrian identification.
The arrest adds to escalating tension in Germany over the security risks arising from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open the country’s doors to nearly 900,000 asylum seekers in 2015 alone.
As the wave of migrants entering the county peaked late last year, authorities brushed aside suggestions that the surge could include attackers linked with ISIS. A year later, a lengthening list of arrests and a series of attacks by refugees have led officials to reassess the threat and raise alarms about security.
“It is very good [that] this man was taken off the streets,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said. “Security services had been watching him for some time.”
Officials said it was still unclear how far along plans were for an attack but authorities still felt compelled to act, said Bernd Palenda, head of the state intelligence agency in Berlin.
“As we had no overview over the risks—what might be done and when it might start—we acted fast,” said Mr. Palenda, CONTINUE AT SITE
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