German, April 30: German police have arrested three al-Qaeda suspects who will be put on trial on Saturday, when a news conference has been scheduled.
German prosecutor’s office in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe announced that the three suspects were arrested early Friday, but did not give further details,
According to security sources, the suspects are originally Moroccans but were living in Germany’s western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, when they were detained.
The Moroccan government said Friday that al-Qaeda were suspected in connection with a bomb attack Thursday that killed 16 people in the city of Marrakesh.
Abdeladim K., the group’s apparent leader, was trained in a camp in Waziristan, the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan and had regular contacts with suspected al-Qaeda leaders in the region, according to German officials.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said the arrests by “domestic intelligence services and foreign partner organizations” had averted a serious incident.
He added that the arrests had “averted a concrete, immediate threat… we must remain vigilant,” according to a message by government spokesman Steffen Seibert on microblogging site Twitter.
Security measures were tightened in Germany’s tourist spots, airports and main train stations after the arrests.
A German-Turkish citizen was also held in Germany on suspicion of preparing explosive devices and posting al-Qaeda propaganda on the internet in October 2009, when a small amount of explosives and a suspected detonator were seized in two police raids in the Frankfurt area.
Most al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Germany are usually sentenced to long prison terms.
—-AGencies