GERMANY: German investigators said yesterday they had uncovered a plot to blow up an aircraft belonging to Israeli airline El Al.
Six men were arrested last Friday suspected of planning to bribe a security staff member at Frankfurt airport to smuggle a suitcase bomb on board a plane.
Police searched nine apartments in two federal states during a series of raids last Friday, secured evidence and arrested six men, all Jordanians according to media reports.
Five of the men were released without charge the following day, while one remains in custody. Planning of the attack began during the summer but had run into difficulty over disagreements between the Jordanian men and the airport official about the sum he would be paid.
"There was no immediate danger, the plan was in an early stage but we deliberately struck early," one of the police officers involved in the raid told Spiegel Online.
The news has increased nervousness in Germany, which unlike the US, Britain and Spain, has been spared a serious terrorist attack.
Christian Democrat deputy leader Dieter Bosbach said that the 200 active investigations in Germany with a terrorism element made clear "how big the potential danger is".
"We cannot pretend that terrorism makes a detour around Germany," he said.
The country had a close call last August when two suitcase bombs planted on regional trains departing from Cologne failed to explode.
Two Lebanese students were arrested and charged after the discovery of the bombs which had faulty detonating devices.
The planned plane bombing will focus attention on security at Frankfurt airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs with 52 million passengers a year.