Terror attacks in Brussels Arrests in Düsseldorf and Gießen
Düsseldorf/Gießen. · Arrests in Düsseldorf and Gießen are reportedly connected to the Brussels terror attacks.
Police have arrested persons in Düsseldorf and Gießen, who they believe may have been involved in the terror arracks in Brussels. A spokesperson for the Düsseldorf city attorney’s office would only confirm on Friday that a man was arrested on Thursday and among other things, he is being investigated for involvement in a serious crime against the state.
According to “Spiegel”, the man arrested is Salafist Samir E. (German law prevents naming suspects names in full). Along with Brussels Metro suicide-bomber Khalid El Bakraoui, he was picked up by authorities in the summer of 2015 at the border between Syria and Turkey. Turkish authorities suspected the men of fighting with Islamists in the Syrian civil war or of planning to engage with them. Both were sent back to Amsterdam which is where they had originally flown out from.
Samir E. was arrested on Thursday afternoon by a special task force of the police. Authorities are now investigating whether E. and Bakraoui knew each other or had been travelling together in Turkey.
Other media reports say a suspect was arrested on Wednesday evening in Gießen, and that his arrest was also connected to the Brussel terror attacks. According to “Spiegel”, federal police apprehended a man who was alleged to have two suspicious SMS texts on his phone from the day of the Brussels attacks.
Orig. text: dpa
