SEK-Einsatz in NRW: Mutmaßliche Anschlagspläne – zwei Verdächtige wieder frei

In North Rhine-Westphalia, two men suspected of plotting attacks have been released from police custody. The police confirmed this to dpa following the arrests of three men in Hagen and Unna. The released men are two Syrians, aged 20 and 24, also from Hagen. The third man, a 33-year-old German who converted to Islam, remains in custody as his "dangerousness prognosis has been confirmed," according to the police.

The police suspect a potential ideological connection to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS). The northwestern German constitutional police had been monitoring the men since the beginning of the year, and the threat of implementing attack plans has intensified. They had been exchanging ideas about attacks among themselves. When the plans became more concrete, the constitutional police informed the police about their findings and planned a preventive intervention, the dpa reported.

On Thursday evening, Special Operations Command detained the three men, and their homes were searched, seizing documents and data media. Criminal police evidence was found against all three individuals. The police in North Rhine-Westphalia can detain persons under suspicion of terrorism for up to 14 days in custody if a judge authorizes it.

The detention must be lifted if the suspicion does not strengthen further. North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) stated on Friday that the state's constitutional police and police demonstrated how well their security architecture works when all parts work together. He emphasized that these individuals had lost their fight with attack fantasies and believed they could remain unnoticed, but their constitutional police saw more than they wanted, and the police acted before they could.