A German 18-year-old, identified as a Chechen with a Russian passport, was arrested at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport in the course of an attempted departure. He is suspected of wanting to join the Islamic State (IS).
Five other people, reportedly Syrians, were also taken into custody, but the police have not provided further information on their connection to the suspect or the ongoing investigation. Searches were conducted in Potsdam and a flat was searched in the context of the suspected plot, where an unconventional explosive device was found.
The police have not commented on the details of the investigation, but a spokesperson for the ARD expert Michael Götschenberg stated that the device was not a conventional explosive.
The police evacuated the flat in Potsdam and surrounding buildings and some media outlets initially reported the suspect as a Russian, which was later corrected to a Chechen with a Russian passport.