Two suspected Islamic State supporters have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning a deadly weapons attack on the Swedish parliament in retaliation for the country’s Quran burnings, prosecutors said.
The men, identified only as Ibrahim MG and Ramin N, were detained in the Gera area of eastern Germany after making “concrete preparations” for the plans, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Last summer, a series of controversial protests saw the desecration of the Islamic holy book outside a mosque and parliament building in Stockholm, sparking outrage.
According to prosecutors in Germany, Ibrahim MG, an IS member, was ordered by the jihadist group around that time to carry out an attack in Europe in response to the Koran burnings in Sweden.
He is accused of plotting with Ramin N “to use firearms to kill police officers and other people near the Swedish parliament in Stockholm,” German prosecutors said today.
The men had made ‘concrete preparations’ for an attack ‘near the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm’, prosecutors said (file image shows the Swedish Parliament buildings
The pair “made concrete preparations for this in close consultation with officials” from a regional branch of IS, investigated the location and tried to obtain weapons, prosecutors said.
“They researched the circumstances surrounding the possible crime scene on the Internet and tried several times – albeit without success – to obtain weapons,” she added.
Karin Lutz, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Security Service (Sapo), confirmed they had cooperated with German police but declined to provide further details.
Both suspects are suspected of plotting a crime. Ibrahim MG is suspected of supporting and being a member of a terrorist organization.
Ramin N is accused of supporting a terrorist organization. According to German media, the group is known as the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK).
Before the plot, they are also accused of raising about 2,000 euros ($2,170) for IS in Germany, which was sent to the group through intermediaries.
Sweden has been on high alert since a series of Quran burnings across the country, mainly by opponents of immigration, sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
At one protest, 37-year-old Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, along with Salwan Najem, set fire to a copy of the Quran in front of the building.
Salwan Momika announced that he would burn a copy of the Quran and an Iraqi flag in Stockholm on July 20, 2023
In late June, they held a similar demonstration outside Stockholm’s main mosque.
The pair have repeatedly said they wanted the Quran banned in the Scandinavian country, which prides itself on its freedom of expression laws.
The burnings brought Sweden into a ‘increased threat‘ of terrorist attacks, with the level rising from ‘elevated’ – where it had been since 2016 – to ‘high’ last August.
The country has also seen its diplomatic relations with several Middle Eastern countries strained over the desecrations.
Sweden condemned the attacks on the Islamic holy book but enforced laws on freedom of expression and assembly.
Today’s arrests are only the latest in Germany regarding alleged plots against Sweden.
In October, German prosecutors charged two Syrian brothers with planning an IS group-inspired attack on a church in Sweden over Koran burnings.
Islamist extremists have also carried out several violent attacks in Germany in recent years, the deadliest of which was a truck crash at a Christmas market in Berlin in December 2016 that killed 12 people.
In another case, an extremist and his wife were jailed in 2020 for planning a biological bomb attack in Germany using the deadly poison ricin.