photo: AFP
Alleged "Militant Islamics" Plotting "Major" Attack
This is how it's done.
Take your time. Get close. Don't spook them out. Follow the trail backwards. Danish counter-intelligence were all over these guys.
Only when they endangered others -- "We had to move today, also due to safety reasons. They were producing an unstable explosive in an apartment building in a densely populated Copenhagen area." -- were they picked up.
BloombergYep, all that Security Theater in the airports on foreign nationals makes a lot of sense. Not.
Police held the men, whose ages are between 19 and 29, in the Copenhagen area today, Jakob Scharf, head of the Security Intelligence Service, told a news conference in the capital.
"With the arrests, we've prevented a major act of terrorism," Scharf said. The suspects are "militant Islamists with international connections including ties to al-Qaeda."
Danish intelligence-gathering efforts and security were stepped up when the Nordic country was singled out as a target by al-Qaeda after the July 7, 2005, London bombings. Today's arrests mark the third time in two years Danish police have detained terrorism suspects.
The men, of Afghani, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish origin, are suspected of having produced "unstable explosives," Scharf said. Police will seek to charge them under Denmark's terrorism law, which can carry a life sentence.
"We have investigated these people for some months," Scharf said. "After having been pushed back, al-Qaeda is now regaining its foothold and is capable of planning and completing terror attacks in the West, including Denmark."
Scharf wouldn't say where police suspect the detainees planned to carry out an attack. Officers raided 11 Copenhagen apartments at 2:00 a.m. local time and found "materials and objects" that were being used to produce explosives.
A year ago, Danish police arrested nine Muslim men in the city of Odense. Prosecutors charged four of the nine with plotting acts of terrorism after finding laboratory equipment, chemicals and explosives in their possession.
Denmark, a country of 5.5 million, brought back its 400 troops from Iraq last month. The country plans to increase to 640 from 440 the number of troops stationed in Afghanistan.
A Danish newspaper in September 2005 published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that linked Islam to terrorism. Muslim protests, including consumer boycotts and the torching of Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon, flared after Danish Muslim leaders went to the Middle East to rally support against Denmark for not censuring the newspaper.
Six of the men have Danish citizenship, while two live in Denmark on residence permits, Scharf said.
SIX OF THE MEN HAD DANISH CITIZENSHIP. The other two had residence permits. Up till 9/11 the previous greatest act of terrorism on US soil was committed by anti-government militia sympathizers upset about Waco and Ruby Ridge. Both were white males. US Citizens.
Shall we start searching demanding internal passports with chips in them from damn near every US citizen, resident, and alien?
Fear. Good for winning votes. Bad for stopping attacks.
Good work Denmark. Keep it up.
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