Four young people were arrested at the end of March. Reports indicated a planned IS attack.
Again, the tip came from abroad. Four young people from North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg were arrested on suspicion of a planned terrorist attack. The 15 and 16-year-olds are suspected of having prepared a terrorist attack “according to the goals and ideology of the Islamic State (IS).” A tip about the suspected terrorist cell was said to have come from abroad, according to an Austrian newspaper. Knives and Molotov cocktails were mentioned as possible murder weapons. Churches and synagogues are said to be targets in Dortmund, Düsseldorf, and Cologne. Police unions warned that the case of the four young terror suspects was worrying. The police also called for vigilance, especially with regard to the radicalization of young people. It was only after the attack in Moscow in March that German politicians began calling for the expansion of their own surveillance and information system.