Berlin Airports Allegedly Targeted by Terrorist
Joe Cortez October 11, 2016
Arrested Syrian subject allegedly planned attack on German transportation infrastructure.
German officials are accusing a Syrian refugee of planning a bombing attack against a Berlin airport, following a trend in attacks on European air terminals. The Wall Street Journal reports German federal police arrested 22-year-old Jaber Albkar over the weekend, on suspicion of planning a bomb attack.
A raid of Albkar’s apartment yielded evidence that the man was preparing for a suicide attack. According to the German Interior Ministry, Albkar had three pounds of “an extremely dangerous explosive” and materials to construct a suicide vest, which mimicked the preparations for similar attacks in Paris and Brussels over the last 12 months.
Reuters reports that Albkar may have been inspired by the Islamic State and wanted to carry out an attack for the terrorist organization. The German domestic intelligence agency told Reuters they believe the initial plan was to target trains in Berlin, before shifting the attention to one of Berlin’s airports.
“The danger is mainly characterized by the fact that he developed a very high explosive for which special expertise was needed, ” German federal public prosecutor Peter Frank told a German television show, according to Reuters. “And he made it in a very large quantity.”
German authorities tell The Wall Street Journal Albkar arrived in Germany in February 2015 and was granted asylum five months later. It is unclear if Albkar was part of a larger, organized terrorism organization, or was simply inspired by the Islamic State movement.
Berlin is home to two major airports: Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) and Berlin Schoenefeld Airport (SXF). Of the two, TXL is larger, serving over 21 million passengers in 2015.
[Photo: FlightFeature.com]
What do you expect when Merkel opens the boarders without any restraint? She's completely incompetent! I feel for the German people. It's a real shame.