Islamism
Three young people from North Rhine-Westphalia under suspicion of terrorism
The Düsseldorf District Court has issued arrest warrants against three young people aged 15 and 16 on suspicion of terrorism. photo
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
They are only 15 and 16 years old: three teenagers from North Rhine-Westphalia are said to have planned an Islamist terrorist attack. Now they are in custody. Two of them are girls.
Exchanged about terrorist plans in chat group
According to the information, those arrested are a 15-year-old from Düsseldorf, a 15-year-old teenager from the Soest district and a 16-year-old from the Märkisches Kreis. According to investigators, they are said to have agreed to commit a crime – murder and manslaughter – in conjunction with the preparation of a serious act of violence that would endanger the state.
Security sources said the young people had discussed their terrorist plans in a chat group. There is said to have been no concrete attack plan with a time and place. However, Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Cologne were discussed as attack cities. People were thinking about attacks with knives and Molotov cocktails on people in churches or police officers in police stations.
Machete and a dagger seized
There were searches. A machete and a dagger were seized in Düsseldorf. No evidence of the construction of incendiary devices was discovered. The father of the Düsseldorf suspect had already attracted attention because he was said to have collected donations for IS.
They initially did not want to reveal how the investigators discovered the young people suspected of terrorism. Foreign secret services “didn’t play a role” this time. A fourth suspect has been identified in Baden-Württemberg. The Esslingen district court issued an arrest warrant against him.
New strategy of the Islamists
Islamist influencers are now particularly targeting young people. Because of their age, they were probably completely unaware of the cruel activities of IS in Syria and Iraq until 2015. It is remarkable that they are now also able to win girls over to their terrorist intentions.
It was only in November that two 15 and 16-year-old teenagers were arrested on suspicion of terrorism. They were said to have sympathized with the so-called Islamic State and planned an attack on a Christmas market. They were taken into custody in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg.