Last update - 00:00 20/11/2006
Six being held Germany over plot to blow up El Al plane
By Zohar Blumenkrantz and the Associated Press
Six people are under investigation in Germany over an alleged terrorist plot to blow up an El Al Airlines commercial aircraft in Frankfurt, prosecutors said Monday.
The six, as well as other people who have not yet been identified, are believed to have conspired on behalf of "as yet unknown" terrorist backers, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
None of the names or details of the suspects have been made public, although a security source told Reuters the suspects were from Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq. Der Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that most were Jordanians of Palestinian origin.
El Al sources said Monday evening they were surprised to learn of the report. According to the source, the airline, a national flag carrier, had not been notified by German authorities of the incident and but learned about it from media reports.
The sources said that El Al was not involved in the interception of the plot, and none of the information was obtained within the airport or during the security checks performed by airline personnel.
The suspects, who could face charges of belonging to or supporting a terrorist organization, were temporarily detained on Friday, but five of them were released Saturday after questioning. The remaining suspect was kept in custody over an unrelated matter.
Under German law, authorities must release suspects after a maximum of 48 hours unless they have enough evidence to convince a judge that they can be held in long-term investigative custody.
According to an official statement, some of the suspects approached an airport employee with security clearance at the Frankfurt International Airport last summer, and convinced the person to smuggle a case or bag containing explosives onto an El AL plane in an exchange for an unspecified payment, it added.
Preparations were halted, however, because the plotters disagreed with the airport employee over the amount to be paid for his part in the plan.
Prosecutors would not elaborate on the circumstances of the ongoing case, nor give any more details about the suspects.
They said nine apartments were searched in the state of Hesse and the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Germany's biggest airline, Lufthansa, said it was not the target.
Interior Ministry spokesman Stefan Kaller declined to comment on details of the alleged plot, its timing, what specific airport was involved or why the suspects were released, pointing to the ongoing investigation.
"This case is encouraging in that our security authorities are clearly very observant, get very close to possible (terrorist) structures and, at least so far, have succeeded in intervening early enough," Kaller told reporters.
Four Arab men were convicted in a German court last year of plotting to bomb Jewish targets in Berlin and Duesseldorf in 2002 under orders from the late leader of al Qaeda in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by the U.S. military in June.
Police uncovered a failed plot by two young Lebanese men to detonate suitcase bombs on trains in western Germany in July.
A Hamburg-based al Qaeda cell has been blamed for the September 11, 2001, hijacked-plane attacks on the United States. Since then, Germany has cracked down on Muslim militants and has put on trial a number of radical Islamists.