A Lebanese man suspected of planting a bomb on a German train has been arrested after turning himself in to authorities in Lebanon, the German federal prosecutor said yesterday.
The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Jihad Hamad, is one of two men German authorities believe tried to set off bombs on trains last month in the cities of Dortmund and Koblenz.
The bombs, hidden in suitcases and made with propane tanks and crude detonating devices, failed to go off.
The other suspect, a 21-year-old Lebanese man named Youssef Mohamad E.H., was arrested in the northern German city of Kiel on Saturday as he was apparently attempting to flee the country.
The prosecutor's office said Hamad, who had been hunted by German federal police in recent days, had turned himself in to authorities in Tripoli.
"Based on our understanding, he has since been taken from Tripoli to Beirut," prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum told a news conference in Karlsruhe.
German investigators believe both men, who were filmed by security cameras dragging the suitcase bombs onto trains in Cologne, are part of a broader terrorist organisation. Mr Griesbaum said police searching Hamad's apartment near Cologne had found gas bottles, cables and tape that may match materials used in the attempted bombings.
The suspect's father Shaheed Hamad, a retired Lebanese army soldier in his 50s, said in front of the family house in Tripoli he had turned his son in after hearing he was a suspect but could not believe he was part of the bombing plot.
"My son went to study in Germany because of his excellent marks. Is it possible that in six months he became al Qaeda?" he exclaimed in disbelief. "If it was true, then may he never return."
Germany wants Hamad, whom the prosecutor's office had initially said was 19, extradited. Mr Griesbaum said that process could take months.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an interview with German television station N24, called the arrest a "major success" that resulted from intense cooperation with foreign institutions.
Security news
¤ Dutch authorities will release all 12 passengers arrested on a US Northwest Airlines plane bound for India on Wednesday after concluding they were not planning an attack, prosecutors said yesterday.
"From the statements of suspects and witnesses, no evidence could be brought forward that these men were about to commit an act of violence," a prosecution statement said, adding police had searched for explosives on the plane but found none.
¤ US authorities have arrested a New York man for locally broadcasting Hizbollah television al-Manar, which the US Treasury Department has designated a terrorist entity.
Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement yesterday.
¤ Britain's charity watchdog froze the bank accounts of aid group Crescent Relief yesterday as part of a probe to see whether aid money had been channelled to groups suspected of plotting to blow up airliners.
The Charity Commission, a British government department said had launched a formal inquiry into the UK-based group, which raised money for the victims of last year's earthquake in Pakistan, after allegations in British newspapers.
¤ A package with a suspicious odor set off an alarm at Miami International Airport yesterday, prompting authorities to close off a small part of the baggage claim area for about 90 minutes, police and airport officials said.
The Miami-Dade Police bomb squad was sent to investigate but found nothing dangerous and the area was quickly reopened, airport spokesman Marc Henderson said.
¤ British police said yesterday anti-terrorism officers had made an arrest in Manchester and were searching a house in the city.
The suspect was held on Wednesday in the Cheetham Hill area of the city, where the house was being examined.
¤ A secret British court ruled yesterday that a terrorism suspect can be deported to Algeria, endorsing a key element in Prime Minister Tony Blair's security strategy that has been criticised by human rights groups.