Germans Arrest 3, Thwart "Imminent Threat"

Three men have been arrested for planning attacks on Frankfurt's international airport and the U.S. military base in Ramstein, the German Defense Minister said Wednesday.

"There was an imminent threat," Franz Josef Jung told Germany's ARD broadcaster. He declined to elaborate.

Two of the suspects had German citizenship while the third was Pakistani, Germany's Sudwestrundfunk public broadcaster said.

German federal prosecutors said they had arrested three suspected members of "an Islamic motivated terrorist organization." It was not immediately clear whether the three were suspected of having links to al Qaeda.

Sudwestrundfunk said the men were arrested Tuesday evening and were close to carrying out the attacks. German and U.S. officials have warned of the possibility of a terrorist attack, and security measures have been raised, they said.

Thanks to Oorang for this post.

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890027/posts?page=1101#1101

Operation Alberich: How the CIA Helped Germany Foil Terror Plot
September 10, 2007
With the help of the CIA, German investigators foiled what would likely have been the most devastating terror attack of its kind in the country’s history. The plans of a fanatical group of Islamists trained in Pakistan reveal just how great a risk Europe faces.

It was early June at the G-8 summit in the German seaside resort of Heiligendamm, and climate protection and hedge funds were the key issues on the agenda. But then there came the moment when the news of a potential terrorist plot reached Chancellor Angela Merkel. Not a word of it was mentioned in the summit’s official communiqués. Merkel and US President George W. Bush met alone to discuss what he called “the Pakistan matter.” America felt threatened, and the threat, US intelligence agents told their president, was coming from Germany — once again, just as it had on Sept. 11, 2001.

Bush, who was well briefed about the plot, even knew the names of the suspects. He made it clear to Merkel that he was taking the matter very seriously. Her officials at the Chancellery were all too familiar with what the US president was talking about. “Operation Alberich,” as the intelligence agencies called the case, had top priority.

For months the operation was discussed almost every Tuesday at a weekly meeting conducted by Merkel’s chief of staff, Thomas de Maizière. What began with vague information soon turned into the biggest police operation since the so-called “German Autumn” of 1977 — a political thriller rarely seen in postwar Germany.

Operation Alberich began last October, when the US National Security Agency, the NSA, began intercepting suspicious emails between Germany and Pakistan. It ended last week in the central German Sauerland region, with the arrests of two German converts to Islam, Fritz Gelowicz, 28, the son of a southern German doctor, and 22-year-old Daniel S., who had learned how to handle weapons during his military service in the western German city of Saarlouis. His neighbors in nearby Saarbrücken had noticed that he prayed to Allah “often and very loudly.” The third man arrested in the sting was Adem Y., a 28-year-old Turkish national. The trio was caught in the act of mixing chemical ingredients to make explosives at a vacation house in the mountainous Sauerland region.

Excerpted

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,504837,00.html

1,101 posted on 09/11/2007 5:41:11 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)

Thanks to Oorang for this post.

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890027/posts?page=1170#1170

Austria arrests three with al Qaeda links
Wed 12 Sep 2007

VIENNA - Austria has arrested three people linked to al Qaeda who posted an video message on the Internet threatening attacks against Austria and Germany, Interior Minister Guenther Platter said on Wednesday.

The trio are suspected of producing the video, which demanded German and Austrian soldiers leave Afghanistan, but in electronic surveillance over several months police found no concrete indications that attacks were in the offing, he said. “Austria was not under threat of an attack at any time,” Platter told a news conference. “We could determine that based on the actions of the three.”

The arrests came a week after Germany said it foiled an Islamist militant plan to carry out “massive bomb attacks” on U.S. installations in the country. Germany arrested three men. Platter said he knew of no links between the German and the Austrian suspects, but said the surveillance had produced evidence the Austrians had contacts to al Qaeda.

Excerpted

http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL12801344.html

Jihad Union hard-pressed to explain strange statement
Sep 12, 2007, 2007

Istanbul - The statement claiming reponsibility for planning an attack on the US airbase in Germany’s Ramstein earlier in the week by the Islamic Jihad Union from Uzbekistan is considered to be genuine by German’s Interior Ministry, but the message published on the internet raised more questions than it answered.

Firstly, why would a terrorist organization admit to planning an attack that has already been prevented by the security forces in the planning stages? The court appearances of two German Muslims and a Turk who were arrested on September 5 in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for plotting attacks in Germany were certainly complicated when the Islamic Jihad Union declared them ‘our brothers.’

Secondly, the internet message said that there would be further attacks against US and Uzbek consulates in Germany. At the same time, the message directed less criticism at the US than at Germany which uses the US airbase for logistical support to German troops in Afghanistan.

Thirdly, the message appeared in Arabic and Turkish. The Arabic was only used for quotations from the Koran, which is no surprise for an Islamist group, but the question remains why the terrorists used flawless Turkish for the message and not the Cyrillic script normally used in Uzbekistan.

Excerpted

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/features/article_1355163.php/Jihad_Union_hard-pressed_to_explain_strange_statement

1,170 posted on 09/12/2007 1:49:49 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=0a8b9110-efb0-4433-bf72-445bf2ca66f4&k=7354

“Canada holds man linked to Austrian al Qaeda case”

Karin Strohecker, Reuters
Published: Thursday, September 13, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “VIENNA (Reuters) - Canadian police have arrested a fourth suspect in connection with three Austrians linked to al Qaeda who were detained in Vienna on Wednesday, the Austrian Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

Canadian police later said they had arrested Said Namouh, 35, in the town of Maskinonge in the French-speaking province of Quebec on Wednesday. He was charged on Thursday with plotting to cause explosions in a foreign country.

Austrian officials said the man had been in contact with the three arrested in Vienna, who are suspected of having posted a video message on the Internet threatening attacks on Austria and Germany.

“The man in Canada was arrested at the same time as the three in Vienna,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia. “They communicated a number of times through online Internet forums and by e-mail.”

Gollia said the suspect arrested in Canada was of African descent but declined to give any further details. Canadian police said Namouh — arrested after a joint operation with Austrian authorities — had posed no direct threat to Canada.”

NOTE: The folllowing text is a quote:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/018145.php

September 15, 2007

German jihadist bomb suspect worked at airport
Feel safer? Ain’t political correctness grand?

“Bomb suspect worked at airport,” from News24.com (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):

Berlin - One of three men arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting major bomb attacks worked at Frankfurt airport, one of the alleged targets, according to the weekly Der Spiegel.

The report to be published on Monday said Adem Y, a Turk, had been employed from 1997 to 2002 by German railways, working in particular in the department handling freight at Frankfurt airport station.

The three arrested on September 5, who also included two Germans converted to Islam, were suspected of planning “massive” attacks on facilities used by Americans, among them Frankfurt airport and the US military airbase at Ramstein.

Federal prosecutor Monika Harms said they were members of the Islamic Jihad Union, a little-known group from Uzbekistan with links to al-Qaeda.

The Sunni Muslim group said the aim of the planned attacks had been to put pressure on Germany to withdraw its soldiers stationed at the Termez base in southern Uzbekistan, according to the German interior ministry.

More diplomacy by intimidation. In both its violent and its peaceful forms, it’s all the rage these days.

Posted by Robert at September 15, 2007 3:00 PM

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890027/posts?page=1405#1405

Germans Warned Of Terrorist Attack
September 16, 2007

The risk of a terrorist attack in Germany, possibly even a nuclear strike, is high despite the recent arrest of suspected Islamist militants, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told a newspaper.

“The terrorist threat has not diminished,” Schaeuble told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, according to extracts published in advance. “I am no less worried since the arrests. We know more precisely that we are in the crosshairs of Islamist terrorism ... the terrorists want to carry out more attacks,” he said.

Schaeuble even warned of the danger of a nuclear attack, although it was not clear if he was referring to Germany specifically. “Many experts are convinced this kind of attack is a question of when, not if,” he told the paper.

Last week, Germany said its security forces had foiled a plan by Islamist militants to carry out massive bomb attacks. On September 4 police arrested three men suspected of belonging to an Islamist terrorist group and who, officials said, were planning strikes on Frankfurt international airport and a major US military base.

Schaeuble wants to introduce new measures to combat the threat from international terrorism, but opposition is high in Germany where curtailing civil liberties is very sensitive more than 60 years after the fall of Nazism.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Germans-warned-of-terrorist-attack/2007/09/16/1189881313394.html

1,405 posted on 09/15/2007 2:16:13 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)

###

Previously...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1892473/posts

“NSA Style Eavesdropping Thwarts 9/11 Anniversary Terror Attack”
American Thinker ^ | 9-6-07 | Marc Sheppard

Posted on 09/07/2007 4:55:15 AM PDT by Renfield

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1890027/posts?page=1520#1520

FOILED BOMB PLOT
Terror Suspect Worked at Frankfurt Airport

Adem Yilmaz, one of the three men arrested in Germany two weeks ago on suspicion of plotting bomb attacks, spent time working at Frankfurt Airport, one of the possible targets, SPIEGEL has learned.

One of the three terrorism suspects (more...) arrested two weeks ago in Germany worked at Frankfurt Airport, SPIEGEL has learned.

Turkish citizen Adem Yilmaz from the town of Langen in western Germany was employed in the security division of rail operator Deutsche Bahn from 1997 until 2002.(snip)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,506190,00.html

Southern German Towns Become Hub of Jihadism
Roland Ströbele | 17 Sep 2007
World Politics Review Exclusive

The arrest earlier this month of three Islamic radicals suspected of planning attacks on American military installations in Germany has again called attention to the southern German towns of Neu-Ulm and Ulm. The alleged leader of the trio, Fritz G., comes from Ulm. As Roland Ströbele of the local Neu-Ulmer Zeitung reports, the twin cities on opposite banks of the Danube have in recent years become a bustling hub of Jihadist activism.

NEU-ULM/ULM, Germany — And once again the trail leads to Neu-Ulm. One of the three presumed members of an Islamic terror group arrested earlier this month in Germany comes from Ulm. The 28-year-old Fritz G. is supposed even to have been the ringleader of the group, which is accused of planning bomb attacks on the Frankfurt Airport and the U.S. military base in Ramstein.

If the accusations should turn out to be true, then they provide renewed evidence that plans for terror attacks have been hatched in Ulm and Neu-Ulm and that it is from here that the terrorists have set out to realize their plans.

Fritz G. has been long known to Bavarian police authorities. The 28-year-old German converted to Islam several years ago and was a frequent visitor to the “Multi-Kultur-Haus” in Neu-Ulm, an Islamic cultural center that was shut down by the authorities in January 2006 on account of Islamist activism. According to investigators, radical “preachers of hate” frequented the Multi-Kultur-Haus, recruiting “holy warriors” for Jihad or collecting funds for the latter. (snip)

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=1142

1,520 posted on 09/17/2007 7:30:18 AM PDT by Velveeta

UPDATE:

Thanks to Oorang for this post:

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1890027/posts?page=1966#1966

German plot links may reach Syria, Europe
Mon 24 Sep 2007

The network of three suspects arrested last month in an al Qaeda-linked bomb plot in Germany may have extended to Syria and other countries in Europe, the German interior minister said on Monday.

“They worked in a very conspirative and high(ly) professional conspirative manner,” Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters as he met U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Washington. German police earlier this month arrested the three men, said to have trained at militant camps in Pakistan, on suspicion of plotting large bomb attacks on U.S. installations in Germany. U.S. electronic surveillance played a key role in disrupting the plot, authorities have said.

The suspects had an international network that ranged to “not only Pakistan (but also) Syria, and even there are links maybe to other European countries,” Schaeuble said. There were also possible additional contacts in Germany but authorities lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute, he said.

Excerpted

http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnN24281021.html

1,966 posted on 09/24/2007 1:49:07 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)

Thanks to Oorang for this update and post:

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1890027/posts?page=2085#2085

Germans reveal bomb details
Wed 26 Sep 2007

Fuses intended for use in a suspected plot to bomb US installations in Germany came from Syria through Turkey, the German interior minister said yesterday.

Wolfgang Schaeuble said the three suspects had received an order from Pakistan to act by mid-September. German security officials were also monitoring three men who had trained in a Pakistan camp for militants, but lacked the evidence to arrest them, Mr Schaeuble said. The threat from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Jihad Union, which claimed responsibility for the plot, has not been eliminated, he said. US installations remained a potential target.

Mr Schaeuble was in Washington for security talks with Bush administration officials and congressional leaders. “We know that fuses for these bombs ... came from Syria via Turkey to Germany,” he said. “We know there are connections. We know that there is a clear network. The demand came from Pakistan (that) it’s time to take action in the first half of September,” he said. Mr Schaeuble reiterated his call for an overhaul of international law and for common transatlantic security policies.

He cited frustration with the issue of two German citizens and a permanent resident who were arrested in Pakistan after training in a militant camp. The three were returned to Germany, but authorities lacked a basis to detain them. “Now we have to watch them,” he said. After a long debate over whether to punish the “intentions” of a terrorism suspect, Germany is likely to outlaw training in militant tactics such as bomb-building, Mr Schaeuble predicted.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1537672007

"Islamic Jihad Union" update bump

DECEMBER 28, 2010 : (INDIANA : KATHIE SMITH IS UNDER INVETIGATION FOR TIES TO SUSPECTED & CONVICTED INTL TERRORISTS ----- see SALAHUDIN IBN JAFAR, GERMANY, HOOSIERJIHAD, IJU / ISLAMIC JIHAD UNION) A 46-year-old Indiana grandmother is under investigation for her possible ties to suspected and convicted international terrorists, FoxNews.com has learned.
Muslim-convert Kathie Smith, 46, a U.S. citizen living in Indianapolis who has blogged about her granddaughter, last year married a suspected German jihadist, and has been flying back and forth between the U.S. and Germany as recently as two weeks ago.
A pro-jihadist video featuring Smith and her husband – alongside photos of members of the Islamic Jihad Union charged with plotting failed terror attacks against U.S. targets in Germany -- is being investigated by the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center. The center is a counterterror intelligence clearinghouse staffed by law enforcement officers from local and federal agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. (Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...-----Indiana Grandmother, a Muslim Convert, Being Investigated for Possible Terror Link, FoxNews.com ^ | 12/28/10 | Jana Winter Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2010 4:02:13 PM by ButThreeLeftsDo **** Kathie Smith brandishes a gun in video starring her and her husband, Salahudin Ibn Jafar, that is being investigated by terrorism task force. *****

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