The two suspects, a 25-year-old Tajik and his alleged accomplice, were placed in “long-term police custody”. They are suspected of having prepared a “car” attack against the German cathedral during the New Year celebrations.
German justice on Monday, January 1, extended the custody of two suspected Islamists arrested in recent days on suspicion of preparing an attack on New Year’s Eve against Cologne Cathedral (west). The two suspects, a 25-year-old Tajik arrested before Christmas and his alleged accomplice, arrested on Sunday, were placed in “long-term custody» of fourteen additional days, the Cologne police announced Monday evening.
The judges, however, decided to “put an end to measures of deprivation of liberty» of three other people, including a German-Turk arrested in Bochum (west), all arrested on Sunday. “The judicial investigation continues in all cases“, she added, however.
State of emergency
Those arrested are suspected of having prepared an attack at “the car» against the Cologne Cathedral, on the occasion of the New Year celebrations. According to German media, this is a network mainly composed of Tajiks acting on behalf of the Islamic State-Khorasan (EI-K) , regional branch of IS particularly active in Afghanistan.
This network planned to attack religious buildings during the end-of-year holiday period, at Christmas or during the New Year festivities, in Cologne, Vienna and Madrid. Austrian police also arrested three suspects before Christmas. They are part of “Islamist people groups” Who “at the moment are more active than usual», The regional Minister of the Interior, Herbert Reul, told him. Germany has been on alert for several weeks in the face of the risks of Islamist attacks, particularly since the start of the war in Israel and Hamas.
In late November, the head of domestic intelligence said the risk of such attacks was “real and higher than it has been in a long time» due to the war between Israel and Hamas. At the end of 2016, an Islamist truck attack targeting a Christmas market in Berlin left 12 dead.