Status: 23.09.2021 2.40 p.m.
NRW Interior Minister Reul has commented on the allegedly foiled attack on a synagogue in Hagen. The suspect wanted to meet “a synagogue as full as possible”. When exactly the attack was planned is still unclear.
According to the findings of the security authorities, the alleged attack in Hagen was supposed to “hit a synagogue as full as possible”. According to the information, “on a major Jewish holiday there should be an attack on the synagogue in Hagen,” said North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul in the interior committee of the Düsseldorf state parliament.
“As the Yom Kippur festival was imminent, it made sense to assume that there would be an attack on this important Jewish holiday,” said Reul. “Whether the attack should actually take place during this festival – the holiest and most solemn day of the Jewish year – is not yet entirely certain.”
Suspect rejects allegations
A 16-year-old Syrian is said to have prepared the attack on the synagogue in the Ruhr area city. He is therefore in custody. For tactical reasons of investigation, he could not give any details, said Reul.
According to a tip from a foreign secret service, a large number of police were deployed on September 15 to guard the synagogue in Hagen. A little later, the youth was arrested. He himself denied having planned an attack. His defense attorney has applied for a detention review.
The suspect’s father and brothers are free again
According to security circles, the 16-year-old’s chat with an IS terrorist is supposed to prove that the youngster not only had one-off, loose contact with the bomb-building expert via Telegram messenger service, but also communicated with him over a longer period of time.
The 16-year-old’s father and two brothers, who were also initially taken into custody by the police, were released a short time later because there was no suspicion of them.