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Police officers on the anti-terrorist mission in Hagen
Photo:
Kai-Uwe Hagemann / dpa
Blind, slow, careless - after the attack on the synagogue in Halle (Saale) two years ago, there was criticism of the security authorities.
The assassin, a young right-wing extremist, radicalized himself unnoticed via the Internet and then killed two people.
Only the massive entrance door of the church, which withstood the attacker's shots, prevented an even worse massacre.
Almost exactly two years later, the authorities did not want to take any chances.
On Thursday morning around eight o'clock, officials arrested a 16-year-old Syrian in front of the main train station in Hagen.
The public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf accuses the youth of planning an explosive attack on the synagogue in Hagen.
The situation was serious
How concrete the danger was and how far possible attack plans had progressed cannot yet be conclusively assessed.
According to SPIEGEL information, the investigators have so far not found any explosives in their searches.
The evaluation of seized electronics and cell phones is ongoing.
It has not yet been determined whether the General Prosecutor's Office sees an urgent suspicion and applies for an arrest warrant.
One thing is clear: the situation was serious.
The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) spoke at a press conference of a "concrete reference" to a possible Islamist-motivated attack on the Jewish community.
According to SPIEGEL information, it was a warning from a foreign secret service that made the German counter-terrorism buzz as if at the push of a button.
It was a lesson in international cooperation between police and intelligence services.
And yet the case shows once again how dependent Germany continues to be on the powerful services of friendly countries for security issues.
Searching for explosives with sniffer dogs
On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the start of the celebrations for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the partner service passed on its findings to the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) via monitored communication on the Internet.
A suspected Islamist, according to the warning, was communicating with a chat partner via an explosives attack.
Crime scene, perpetrator, time of the crime - according to security circles, the information was as detailed as it is rarely the case.
The BND immediately shared the information with all relevant authorities.
A short time later, a large group of police secured the synagogue, and explosives detection dogs combed the area.
During the night, the trail led to the 16-year-old Syrian who lives with his father and two brothers in an apartment on the first floor of an apartment building in downtown Hagen.
About one and a half hours after his arrest in front of the Hagen train station in the morning, a special task force stormed the apartment.
The police initially took the rest of the family into custody.
Suspect in Germany since 2015
According to SPIEGEL information, the 16-year-old traveled to Germany via Beirut in the spring of 2015 - as part of what is known as family reunification.
At this point in time, his father had been living as an asylum seeker in Hagen for a few months and was recognized as a refugee a little later.
In Germany, the family has apparently been living inconspicuously so far.
A greengrocer in the neighborhood who knows them seems irritated when asked: "They are not radical at all, rather very poor," says the seller.
In fact, the 16-year-old prime suspect was not known to state officials as an Islamist.
A connection to the local scene is considered unlikely.
The young person could have radicalized himself on the computer at home.
The investigators hope to gain knowledge about his career from the evaluation of the evidence and also from the young person himself. During these hours he will be questioned at the police headquarters in Hagen.
