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Exclusive: The Story Behind the German Terror Plot
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ShareSeptember 07, 2007 11:52 AM
German anti-terrorist police maintained silence for 10 months as a team of about 1,000 officers built the case against a cell of alleged homegrown terrorists that ended with their arrests as they began mixing a "witches' brew" of homemade explosives, ABC News has learned.
According to ABC News sources, the surveillance of the three suspects that began in December 2006 included observations of them at Hanau and Frankfurt airports as well as at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base and the nightclubs and bars surrounding it.
With constant physical surveillance and electronic wiretaps in place and operating 24 hours a day, authorities say they observed the cell purchase about 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide -- a 30 percent concentrate that is useful for bomb making but far in excess of what is needed in commercial applications, such as hair dying.
Sources told ABC News German police surreptitiously entered storage areas where the chemicals were kept in at least 12 drums and replaced the powerful "precursor chemical" with a much-diluted three percent solution.
The police had also bugged the storage area, enabling them to record the suspects as they loaded, unloaded and moved their materials in preparation for making powerful bombs, sources said.
As the alleged terrorists began mixing the hydrogen peroxide with the second element that would create the fuel for massive vehicle-borne improvised explosives, authorities decided to raid the holiday flat the suspects had rented in a small German town and take down the cell.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
During the raids, they discovered the alleged terrorists had also assembled an arsenal of 20 detonators, some apparently used in mining and some that possibly came to Germany from Iran and Pakistan, sources said.
According to Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, the hunt is far from over.
"They are looking for seven other suspects and want to discover the identity of two men in Pakistan they think were behind the plot," the magazine said, quoting its sources.
Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?
September 7, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (6)
This was the bomb and we are all thankful for your great investigation and work.... However, was the bomb only the dispersion mechanism... JUST weeks ago, a man from America came to Frankfurt which was sick with a special strain of TB. When i heard the story in America I thought, that it sounded strange especially the way he came back into the U.S. via Canada. I thought smuggler route, but why? THen the story about his condition was down leveled... was this posssibly to NOT alarm? The important point being that since his return he was NOW accepted into a special medical program in the US which should be able to help him... That is when I thought, that sounds like a cover... NOW HE HAD THE MONEY>>>> OH, NO! Which would imply that Frankfurt would be the likely location or related to some cell operating there...
Which implies that he did something in Frankfurt to obtain the money, a known terrorist trading spot, via the America movie industry. THen couple the fact that his inlaw works for the CDC. I could NOT believe that his exact condition was not KNOW by the CDC relative: his father in law, I believe. And if he knew what his son-in-law had, then this was about something else, maybe the only way for him to save his own life. This a young man, a professional lawyer I believe. All I am saying is that this man may have gone to frankfurt thinking it was a vacation, but the US was not going to allow him back. Then he got upset and decided to assist himself... he needed lots of money for that, and his disease was just the ticket. He sold the disease and what the bomb of YOUR investigative work was the ticket to disperse the TB to people who leave the military base and travel all over the world.
AND IT IS THIS SIZE PROJECT which sounds like Ben Ladin. So since I have been a 007 fan from childhood, I thought I would share with you what I thought.... GOOD LUCK and thanks from a person who sees things which should be happening in the U.S. or our concerns worldwide -- so thanks for doing your jobs!
Posted by: Nouney Hill | Sep 7, 2007 1:40:04 PM
That terrorist looks like speed skater Apolo Anton-Ono...
Posted by: Jazz | Sep 7, 2007 3:14:38 PM
No surprise Iran was supplying the detonators. Naturally, the West is too spineless to stand up to Iran, even when Iran actively supplies terrorists with materials to bomb civilians. Of course, if the West did go after Iran the lib media - would go on the attack - against those who would dare "oppress" a nation like Iran.
Posted by: B. Samuel Davis | Sep 8, 2007 4:46:10 PM
There's only one sensible comment above, and that's by Jazz.
Posted by: Pid | Sep 11, 2007 4:01:04 AM
Our Democrat leaders in Washington, and the ACLU, continue to oppose the government surveilance required to find these kind of terrorists here in America. They don't even recognize that there is a terrorist problem! God help us if a Democrat is elected as President next year!
Posted by: Joe DuBois | Sep 15, 2007 11:05:30 PM
sounds like they were making fuel cells.
Posted by: frau | Feb 1, 2008 8:17:44 PM
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