GERMAN AUTHORITIES SAID today they had foiled a suspected Islamist attack after arresting a German-Turkish married couple who had a pipe bomb and other weapons at their home.
Investigators raided the suspects’ house near Frankfurt after being alerted that the couple had bought a large quantity of chemicals used to make explosives, police and prosecutors said.
The male suspect had contact with the ultra-conservative Islamic Salafist community, authorities said at a press conference.
After keeping the suspects under surveillance for days, police decided to move in on the eve of a professional bicycle race to be held Friday in the area, said the head of Frankfurt’s public prosecutor’s office, Albrecht Schreiber.
“We assume that we… were able to prevent an attack through this,” Schreiber told a press conference in Wiesbaden, though he said it was not clear yet whether the cycle race would have been the target.
Race organisers announced later Thursday that the event which runs between Eschborn and the financial capital Frankfurt had been called off by security authorities because of the arrests.
Pipe bomb, assault rifle, chemicals and ammunition
Police said they discovered a “functioning” pipe bomb, ammunition and various liquids in the cellar of the building.
The search also turned up parts from a G3 Heckler & Koch assault rifle, 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition, as well as hydrogen peroxide, methylated spirits and diesel.
Authorities said they were prompted to arrest the couple after police spotted the male suspect near the race route.
The man, a 35-year-old German-Turkish dual national, was arrested around midnight Wednesday outside the couple’s home in the town of Oberursel, and his Turkish wife, 34, was detained several hours later inside, authorities said.
Two small children who were in the home at the time of the raid have been placed with child protection services.
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