German police arrested three men suspected of planning a terror attack on the western city of Düsseldorf, while a fourth man has been detained in France, German prosecutors said Thursday.
The four Syrian nationals are thought to have been planning an attack in the city’s old town on behalf of ISIL, prosecutors said in a statement.
The three arrested in Germany were named as Mahood B., 25, Hamza C., 27, and Abd Arahman A.K., 31., whose homes were searched. A warrant was also issued for a Saleh A., 25, who is already under arrest in France.
Prosecutors said the plan involved two suicide bombers detonating their explosive vests on Heinrich-Heine-Allee, a popular thoroughfare, while the others killed passersby with rifles and explosives.
Saleh A. revealed the planned attack, which was not thought to be imminent, to French authorities on February 1 this year.
The three men arrested in Germany lived in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Brandenburg, and their homes were also searched by authorities.
Prosecutors allege Saleh A. and Hamza C. arrived in Germany in 2015, having traveled through Greece from Turkey.
They then contacted Abd Arahman A.K., an explosives expert linked to terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra who had been sent to Germany by ISIL in 2014.
Mahood B. allegedly joined the plot in January 2016 and is charged with supporting a foreign terrorist organization. The other three men are charged with membership of a terror organization.