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Police vehicle in front of Cologne Cathedral: After terror warning, no tourists are allowed into the church
Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa
A man arrested in connection with the terror warning for Cologne Cathedral will not be released because of a European arrest warrant from Austria. Extradition proceedings are pending at the General Prosecutor's Office in Cologne, the Cologne police announced on Sunday. As a result, the Local Court of Cologne issued a so-called detention order. The 30-year-old Tajik had been transferred to the Cologne prison.
The suspect had been arrested on Christmas Eve in Wesel. He was in long-term custody until Sunday, according to earlier police statements. The Cologne police did not want to comment on the content of the European arrest warrant. It was an arrest warrant from Austria, said a police spokesman of the German Press Agency.
Shortly before Christmas, the security authorities had received indications of a terrorist attack planned in Cologne Cathedral or in the vicinity of the cathedral. Islamist extremists were supposed to be behind it. After further investigations, the police reported on New Year's Eve that it was a "network of people from Central Asia". A car was supposed to be used for the attack.
In connection with the investigation, four other men were apprehended on New Year's Eve. Three of them, aged 25, 30 and 38, had Tajik and Uzbek citizenship respectively and were arrested in Nörvenich in the district of Düren and in Duisburg and Herne in the Ruhr area, the fourth, a 41-year-old German Turk, in Bochum.
Only the man arrested in Düren, a 25-year-old Tajik, was taken into long-term police custody by court order. He can still be held until 14 January. The others were released on New Year's Day. The police emphasized that the detentions had served to avert danger.
In addition to the indication of the possible attack plan in Cologne, security authorities had also received a tip about a possible planned attack on a church in Vienna before Christmas. In Vienna, too, the police increased security measures at Christmas.
On New Year's Eve – the day on which the attack was reportedly planned – the police secured the cathedral with around 1000,<> police officers. Since Christmas, the medieval cathedral has only been open to worshippers, but no longer to tourists. The police cannot yet say when the security measures will be scaled back again.
feb/dpa