Germans Arrest 2 Terror Suspects On Plane

Commandos Storm KLM Plane In Cologne, Seize Men Linked To Note Wishing To Die For "Jihad"

(CBS/AP)  German police commandos grabbed two terrorist suspects from an Amsterdam-bound flight early Friday before the plane took off from Cologne, police said.

A 23-year-old Somali man and a 24-year-old German born in Somalia were arrested before the KLM flight left the airport, North Rhine-Westphalia state police said.

A KLM spokeswoman said on NOS news in the Netherlands that police boarded the plane when it was at its "point of departure" and grabbed the two suspects.

Everyone was then forced to leave the plane, and there was a "baggage parade" to see whose bags belonged to whom, she said.

No further details were immediately available.

Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper, citing police sources, said the two had been under observation for months and a suicide note was found in their apartment saying that they wanted to die for the "jihad" or "holy war."

The arrests came one day after officials said they were searching for two men linked to a group of terrorist suspects whose alleged plot to blow up American targets in Germany was foiled in 2007.

Eric Breininger, 21, and Houssain Al Malla, 23, are believed have been training at a terrorist camp in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, federal prosecutors' spokesman Frank Wallenta said.

It was not immediately clear whether there was a link between Friday's arrest and the search for Breininger and Al Malla.

Authorities issued an arrest warrant for the pair in April, but did not release their names at that time as they sought to find them through cooperation with other agencies internationally. They decided to go public with the information on Thursday amid suspicions the men may have been on their way back to Germany.

Both men are suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and have been under investigation for "a fairly long time," Wallenta said.

Breininger and Al Malla are thought to be linked to the al Qaeda-affiliated group that is alleged to have plotted attacks within Germany that were intended to kill as many Americans as possible, Wallenta said.

Still, there is no "immediate suspicion" that they were involved in the plot themselves, he said. He noted that unlike the three suspects charged in that case, Breininger and Al Malla are being sought as members of a foreign, rather than domestic terrorist group.

No attacks were carried out.

The principals in the main group, Adem Yilmaz, 29, a Turk living in Germany; and two German converts to Islam, Fritz Martin Gelowicz, 29, and Daniel Martin Schneider, 22, were charged in early September with membership in domestic terrorist organization as well as membership in a foreign terrorist organization in the plot allegedly led by Gelowicz.

Another man, Attila Selek, a 23-year-old German national, was arrested in November 2007 in Turkey, and Germany is seeking his extradition. A fifth suspect, identified only as Dana B., remains under investigation, Wallenta said.

The three suspects charged this month operated as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union - a group the U.S. State Department says was responsible for coordinated bombings outside the U.S. and Israeli embassies in July 2004 in Uzbekistan - according to prosecutors.

The group is alleged to have scouted possible targets, including the U.S. military's base in Hanau, Germany, and stockpiled hundreds of pounds of highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide at a German cottage. The chemicals were enough to build bombs equal to at least 900 pounds of dynamite, prosecutors said.

Authorities say the group was never close to reaching its goals.

German authorities - acting partially on intelligence from the U.S. - covertly swapped out all of the hydrogen peroxide with a diluted solution that could not have been used to make bombs.

Last week, two other men - identified only as Omid S., 27, and Hueseyin O. - were arrested in the Frankfurt area on suspicion of involvement with the group. There was no "immediate suspicion" they were directly part of the plot, Wallenta said.

[surinbasebal]

Why didn''t they arrest these possible terrorists before they got on the plane? Especially since the government had been investigating and watching them for months.

[nicholasma]

No Bail out !!!!!!!!
We have no voice !!!!!
If you bail wall street out then who needs the law
you would not bail out the farmers just scuw on wall street

[displeased]

why be worried about known terrorist trying to get on a plane?
Posted by notblue

That''s fine to be worried about a terrorist on a plane. But you neocons fear all muslims. So put it this way, when a christian minister gets busted for fondling a child, does that make all christians pedophiles? No, it doesn''t. When a muslim terrorist blows up a building, does that make all muslims dangerous. In neocons world, yes. You neocon fear mongers are the true morons.

[notblue]

jumkey, typical lib, denial, why be worried about known terrorist trying to get on a plane? What morons you libs are, I forgot you libs think 911 was an inside job! LOL!

[jumkey]

Could this be another case of profiling? I sure hope so. Islam is the most dangerous thing on earth.

Posted by chatmandu002

You probably pi$$ yourself every time someone says
"falafel".

Dimwit.

[wolfear1]

Could this be another case of profiling? I sure hope so. Islam is the most dangerous thing on earth.
Posted by chatmandu002 at 03:15 PM : Sep 26, 2008
_____________________________________________________
No actually the most dangerous thing on earth is ignorance. Followed closely by religious zealotry.

[chatmandu002]

Could this be another case of profiling? I sure hope so. Islam is the most dangerous thing on earth.

[displeased]

All terrorist are Muslims,they are trained from birth what do they have to lose.
Posted by beehive21

I agree to a certain extent. All radical islam terrorists are muslim. I think terrorism comes in many different forms though, not just radical islams. What about Cho and VT? Would that be a form of terrorism? Or guerrilla groups such as the chechens in Russia (school siege), South American rebels and their kidnappings, etc. A mass school shooting and a suicide bomber have similar motives, they both want to cause terror.

[beehive21-2009]

All terrorist are Muslims,they are trained from birth what do they have to lose.They program them like robots like other hate groups ,we have the KKK and many others trained to hate from birth, they haven''t a chance, brainwashed from birth.

[sfcusarmy1]

anon00-"do you realize how many other viable targets exist with minimal security?"
------------------------------------------

That is a very true statement but terrorists want a lot of bang for their buck. Planes are a very high priority target for them because of the media attention it would get and the fear it would cause.
Also, youre not giving the enemy enough credit. They are very very smart. Never underestimate them!

[rational_1]

What?? The terrorists were Islamic???
Naaaaaah...get outta here....it can''''t be!
Posted by StopSocialis at 10:04 AM : Sep 26, 2008

I''m as shocked as you are!!! I thought for sure that by now the airport screeners, in their best attempts to be politically correct by picking people at random, would have uncovered a Buddhist bomber or maybe a granny or two with a vendetta. Whoda thunk it would be another couple of Islamocrazies? LOL

[pzabbie]

anon00,
It is additudes like yours that allowed 9/11 to happen in the first place! I believe Nevelle Chambarlin thought the samew thing. "Germany won''t repeat it''s Blitzcrieg if we give them Chek".....As for your few extra minutes in line at the Airport for your Holiday, remember those few extra minutes might stop your a** from getting blown up!

[magoo2u1]

"You''''ve got em rounded up and in custody, so execute them now and save the world and everyone in it a lot of hassle."

Man, your no good at having fun. Death means it''s all over for them. Once they''re in a cell you pipe in rap music 24x7 and paint a mural of Brittany spears directly across from their cell. Make them wear "buttless" uniforms and tattoo some reading material across their shoulders for their "buddies" to read while they are "visiting".