Terrorist Suspects Face Trials in Denmark and Sweden
(NTD Television)
(NTD Television)
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said that they had arrested four persons in the Copenhagen suburbs of Herlev and Greve, seizing weapons, a silencer, and live ammunition.
PET also said that three of those arrested were residents of Sweden that entered Denmark during the nights of Dec. 28 and 29. The fourth, a 26-year-old Iraqi living in Denmark, is currently seeking asylum status.
Meanwhile, Swedish counterparts arrested the fifth, a 37-year-old man living in Sweden and originally from Tunisia.
Danish security officials stated that the five suspects had planned an attack on the building of the Jyllands-Posten daily newspaper to “kill as many people as possible” there. They also added that the attack was to be launched within the next few days.
“Allegedly, several of the suspects are to be considered militant Islamists with relations to international terror networks,” head of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, Jakob Scharf, said in a statement.
“The arrests underline the seriousness of the terror threat directed against Denmark and particularly against institutions and individuals related to the cartoon case,” Scharf pointed out.
The arrested will face a court hearing on Thursday for charges of attempting to carry out a terrorist attack.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that he was “dismayed that a group of people had concrete plans to commit a serious terrorist attack in this country,” which prides itself on personal freedom and openness, according to Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
Twelve cartoons commissioned and published by Jyllands-Posten in 2005 were republished by some Danish and other European media. The cartoons were seen by media as a challenge to perceived self-censorship concerning publishing anything critical of Islam, and as sacrilegious by many Muslims.
At least four attempts to attack to the paper and one of the cartoonists, Kurt Westergaard, have been carried out since then. In January this year, a Somalian man armed with an ax and a knife tried to break into Westergaard’s home in Aarhus, Denmark.
The arrests in Denmark come after arrests last week of a few dozen people on suspicion of a planned terrorist attack in England and the Netherlands.
Dutch security officials arrested 12 men of Somali origin in Rotterdam. In an unrelated sweep, the British intelligence service, MI5, detained 12 people, ranging in age from 17 to 28, in several cities of the U.K., including London, Stoke, Birmingham.
Twelve cartoons commissioned and published by Jyllands-Posten in 2005 were republished by some Danish and other European media. The cartoons were seen by media as a challenge to perceived self-censorship concerning publishing anything critical of Islam, and as sacrilegious by many Muslims.
At least four attempts to attack to the paper and one of the cartoonists, Kurt Westergaard, have been carried out since then. In January this year, a Somalian man armed with an ax and a knife tried to break into Westergaard’s home in Aarhus, Denmark.
The arrests in Denmark come after arrests last week of a few dozen people on suspicion of a planned terrorist attack in England and the Netherlands.
Dutch security officials arrested 12 men of Somali origin in Rotterdam. In an unrelated sweep, the British intelligence service, MI5, detained 12 people, ranging in age from 17 to 28, in several cities of the U.K., including London, Stoke, Birmingham.
Friends Read Free