Six arrested on suspicion of Berlin half marathon plot
The half-marathon in Berlin went on without incident, drawing large crowds
amid warm summer sunshine on April 8, 2018. (AFP Photo/Paul Zinken)
Berlin (AFP) - Berlin authorities said they arrested six people Sunday over an alleged plot to carry out a "violent crime" at the German capital's half marathon which attracted 36,000 runners and big crowds of onlookers.
Prosecutors and police said in a statement they had received "isolated indications that those arrested (Sunday) between the ages of 18 and 21 may have been involved in planning a violent crime in connection with this event".
Berlin's top security official, Andreas Geisel, had said that the city of 3.5 million people would need to review its precautions for the half marathon following the Muenster attack in which two people were killed.
Berlin's top security official, Andreas Geisel, had said that the city of 3.5 million people would need to review its precautions for the half marathon following the Muenster attack in which two people were killed.
Authorities believe the 48-year-old German perpetrator of the Muenster attack, who shot himself dead, had mental health problems and was not politically motivated.
It added that the suspect had links to Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri, who carried out a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in the German capital in December 2016.
A court last month sentenced a 26-year-old Palestinian asylum seeker to life in prison for killing one and wounding six others with a knife in a Hamburg supermarket out of a "jihadist" motive last July.
About the Muenster terror attack:
There is “no indication” the man who drove a vehicle into a crowd in the German city of Münster on Saturday, killing several people, had connections to radical Islam, according to authorities.
Two people were killed in the incident, Interior Minister of North-Rhein Westphalia Herbert Reul confirmed at a press conference late Saturday.
The perpetrator, later identified as a 48-year-old German citizen, committed suicide in the van.