German police have detained a Syrian who allegedly planned a terror strike on one of the Berlin airports. The authorities had launched a two-day manhunt after finding explosives in his apartment in Chemnitz.
The 22-year old Jaber A., who was arrested in Leipzig on Sunday night, apparently intended to bomb an airport in the name of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group, the head of German domestic intelligence said.
"We received intelligence that he initially planned to attack trains in Germany," Hans-Georg Maaßen told the German public broadcaster ARD on Monday. "Later, the plans became more specific and directed at airports in Berlin."
The police were tracking Jaber A. and decided to raid his Chemnitz apartment on Friday, when the suspect was seen buying glue in a one-euro-store.
"We have assumed that this might be the last chemical ingredient he needed to make a bomb," Maaßen said.
Police released this photo of the 22-year-old refugee and asked the public for help in tracking him down
In the apartment, the police found a highly violatile substance, likely identical with the explosives used by 'IS' for attacks in Paris and Brussels.
The explosives were "almost ready, or even ready for use", state police chief Joerg Michaelis said at a Dresden press conference.
"From everything we know today, the preparations in Chemnitz are similar to the preparations for the attacks in Paris and Brussels," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.
Earlier in the day, Saxon state police confirmed via Facebook that Syrians living in Leipzig had told them that they had apprehended the suspect in an apartment north of the city center. The Facebook post added that police were "very consciously" not giving any more details of the circumstances of the arrest, "because we do not want to provoke any dangers for those persons who gave us the tip."
Michaelis said in the press conference on Monday that a Syrian man walked into a police station with a photo of Jaber A. on his phone, saying that he and his roommates had caught him.
The suspect was arrested in an apartment in Leipzig after escaping police in Chemnitz on Saturday afternoon
According to the Bild newspaper, Jaber A. had met with three other Syrians while looking for urgent accommodation in Leipzig, after fleeing the police in Chemnitz. His new roommates eventually recognized him and managed to constrain him in their apartment.
Jaber A. had tried to bribe his captors, one of the Syrians who overpowered him told the German RTL broadcaster.
"We told him: You can give us as much as you like, but we are not letting you go," Mohammed A. told the TV station.
The Syrians tried calling the police, but the officials could not understand them. This prompted Mohammed to go to the station and lead the authorities to the suspect.
"I was so angry at him. I won't accept such a thing – especially here in Germany, the country that opened its door to us," he added
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