German police have arrested a soldier on suspicion of planning a serious act of violence. According to a report in Die Welt, he may have wanted to place the blame on refugees.
Prosecutors in Frankfurt am Main confirmed on Thursday that a 28-year-old soldier was arrested on suspicion of disguising himself as Syrian refugee in order to carry out a serious act of violence with xenophobic motives.
On Wednesday 90 police officers from the Federal Office of Criminal Investigations (BKA), the Hessian police, and the Bavarian police worked in cooperation with police in Austria and France to carry out raids on 16 properties linked to the investigation.
Die Welt reported on Thursday that the soldier registered as a Syrian refugee in Giessen, Hesse in December 2015 and applied for asylum at the beginning of 2016.
Authorities awarded him asylum, apparently not noticing his German background or the fact that he was unable to speak Arabic.
Austrian police first noticed the soldier when he attempted to hide an illegally acquired pistol at Vienna Airport, possibly with the intention of later using it to carry out an act of violence.
One theory being pursued by investigators is that the young soldier hoped that after he committed an act of violence, investigators would then match his fingerprints to his asylum application, according to Die Welt.
https://www.thelocal.de/20170427/german-soldier-disguised-himself-as-refugee-to-carry-out-terror-attack
