The German Interior Ministry admitted on Friday that "mistakes were made" in the case of a 28-year-old soldier who was able to fool authorities and register as a Syrian asylum-seeker and receive financial aid. To make the case even stranger, it appeared that the man and an accomplice were plotting a violent xenophobic attack.
"It was a wrong decision," to grant the man financial aid and lodging in a refugee home, said ministry spokesman Tobias Plate, adding that "the Interior Ministry and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees will now leave no stone unturned until we know how this could happen."
Plate insisted, however, that there were no structural loopholes in registering refugees in Germany. "Instead, it seems that established and required security measures, which all those involved should have known about, weren't followed," he said.
The lieutenant has been identified only as Franco A. due to German privacy laws. He was arrested at any army base in Hammelburg, Bavaria on Wednesday after investigators found reason to believe he was planning an attack that he may have sought to blame on refugees.
Possible accomplice arrested
Franco A. was first taken into custody in neighboring Austria in February, when he went to retrieve a pistol he had stashed in a bathroom at the Vienna airport. After releasing the man due to insufficient evidence, Austrian authorities informed their German counterparts, who matched his fingerprints to an asylum registration from 2015.
A second man was also arrested in connection with the alleged plot, a 24-year-old student from the soldier's hometown of Offenbach, near Frankfurt. A preliminary investigation of his electronic devices revealed staunchly xenophobic views, the police said.
No authorities have yet commented on how the solider passed for Syrian despite being unable to speak Arabic. According to the Defense Ministry, the soldier had passed all of his regular security checks since joining the Bundeswehr.
The German army is currently investigating hundreds of allegations of right-wing extremism within its ranks.
es/se (AP, dpa)
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Leipzig, October 2016
Police in Leipzig arrested 22-year-old Syrian refugee Jaber al-Bakr after a two-day manhunt following the discovery of explosives and other bomb-making equipment at his apartment in Chemnitz. He was suspected of plotting to attack a Berlin airport. Two days later, he hanged himself in his prison cell.
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Ansbach, July 2016
In July, the "Islamic State" (IS) claimed responsibility for two attacks carried out by asylum seekers. 15 people were injured in a crowded wine bar next to the entrance to a music festival in the Bavarian town of Ansbach after a rejected Syrian asylum seeker detonated an explosive device. The man killed himself in the attack.
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Würzburg, July 2016
A 17-year-old asylum seeker wielding an axe and a knife went on a rampage on a regional train near Würzburg, seriously injuring four members of a tourist family from Hong Kong and a passer-by. The attacker was shot dead by police. German authorities said the teenager was believed to be a "lone wolf" inspired by the IS, but without being a member of the network.
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Düsseldorf, May 2016
Three suspected members of the "Islamic State" terror network were arrested in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Baden Württemberg. Authorities say two of the men planned to blow themselves up in downtown Düsseldorf, while the other attacker and a fourth jihadist arrested in France planned to target pedestrians with guns and explosive devices.
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Essen, April 2016
Police arrested three people over a bomb blast that injured three people in a Sikh temple in Essen. The bomb detonated after a wedding party, blowing out windows and destroying a part of the building's exterior. A 16-year-old suspect turned himself in after police showed footage of the attack from a surveillance camera and special police units arrested another young suspect in his parents' home.
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Hanover, February 2016
German-Moroccan Safia S. is charged with stabbing a police officer at the main train station in the northern city of Hanover. The 16-year-old girl is suspected of having been "motivated by members of the Islamic State group in Syria to commit this act," chief prosecutor Simon Heinrichs said.
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Berlin, February 2016
In separate raids across the country, police arrested three Algerians suspected of links to the "Islamic State" militant group and of having planned a terrorist attack in Berlin. The Berlin prosecutor's office said prosecutors were aware of a "concrete" plan to target the capital.
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Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Oberursel, April 2015
The Eschborn-Frankfurt City loop bike race was called off after German police discovered it may have been the target of an Islamist terror attack. A 35-year-old German with a Turkish background and his 34-year-old wife were arrested on suspicion of planning the attack. Police found bomb-making materials in their home near the bike route.
Author: Dagmar Breitenbach
