‘Hamas Members’ Arrested in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands Over Suspected Plot to Attack Jewish Community in Europe

A plot to unearth a buried Hamas weapons cache in Germany and launch terror attacks against the European Jewish community has ended in seven arrests across the continent, Mossad says.

Seven people have been arrested, security services including Mossad stated on Thursday afternoon, with three in Germany, three in Denmark, and one in the Netherlands taken into custody.

Media in Germany and Mossad treat the arrests as linked and as part of a plot to attack Jewish communities in Europe, while the Danish government is more circumspect, refusing to confirm or deny whether their arrests are definately linked to those in Germany. Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard refused to confirm or deny those arrested by Danish police were definitely linked to Hamas, speaking instead of a criminal gang and a conspiracy to attack Jewish people, reports Berlingske.

German newspaper Die Welt meanwhile reports national intelligence services believe Islamists already in Europe received orders from Hamas leaders in Lebanon to dig up an “underground cache” of weapons “the terrorist organisation had set up in the past”. According to the allegations, the would-be terrorists launched several expeditions intending to re-discover the buried weapons, intending to bring them back to Berlin ready for an operation.

It appears the weapons cache was never found, and the German police are still seeking it themselves.

Some of those arrested have been named, including Lebanese citizens Abdelhamid Al A. and Ibrahim El-R., Egyptian Mohamed B. and Dutch citizen Nazih R.

Israel’s intelligence service Mossad said in a statement Thursday that the Hamas arrests in Europe came after an “accelerated and comprehensive intelligence investigation”.

The goal of the Hamas plot was “to kill innocent civilians on European soil… to attack Israeli, Jewish and Western targets at any price”, they said.