Iranian admits to planning terror attacks in Germany

BERLIN – A 35-year-old Iranian man, Fatah Mohammed Abdullah, confessed on Friday in a British court to inciting terrorism in Germany and planning to deliver explosives for the attacks.

The Guardian newspaper said Abdullah “bought more than 8,000 matches, fireworks, fuses, explosives precursors – or substances that could be used to manufacture explosives – and a remote control detonator.”

The paper added that “His intention was to help Omar Babek and Ahmed Hussein commit acts of terrorism in Germany.”

According to the paper, “charges against the defendant state that between 9 April 2018 and 11 December 2018, he encouraged others to commit terror attacks in the country, including by driving a car into a crowd, attacking people with a meat cleaver and setting off bombs.”

The court proceeding took place in Liverpool. British counterterrorism officials arrested the Iranian national in December.

Abdullah arrived in the UK from Iran in 2005, according to BBC, which noted that the British authorities allowed him to remain until 2010.

After the court session, Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Snowden from Counter Terrorism Policing North East said: “Abdullah had taken very real and significant steps to plan an attack,” according to a report in the Chronicle Live news outlet.

Snowden said that Abdullah “had purchased vast amounts of matches and fireworks and other component elements to develop an IED (improvised explosive device). He prepared and tested a detonation system in order to show others how to create and use the system to cause an explosion in Germany and cause significant harm to innocent people.”

He continued that, “we cannot underestimate the significant harm and loss of life that could have occurred as a result of his actions.”

The police authorities uncovered “vast amounts of material on digital devices showing Abdullah’s support for the so-called Islamic State and extreme violence,” wrote the news outlet.