The 2016 Copenhagen terror plot was foiled in November 2016 when a Syrian refugee Dieab K. tried to enter
Denmark
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, song_type = National and royal anthem
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, but was refused entry and sent back to Germany where he was apprehended and found to be carrying bomb making materials and knives.
The perpetrators
21-year-old Syrian refugee Dieab K.
Dieab K. arrived in Germany in the summer of 2015 as a refugee from Syria. After his arrival he became radicalized and studied material from the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
.
He had travelled via Turkey, Greece, Serbia and Austria to
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...
in Germany.
After being refused entry into Denmark, his backpack was confiscated by the authorities and he continued by train to the refugee shelter in Biberach, where he was shortly thereafter apprehended. Police found farewell letters in both handwritten and electronic forms among his belongings.
30-year-old Syrian asylum seeker
Prior to arriving in Europe, he had fought in the
Syrian Civil War. In September 2015 he arrived in Sweden as an asylum seeker with his wife and child, after his wife had been refused a residence permit in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. In late 2015, their child died in a car accident and the following year he and his wife were divorced. In December 2017, the
Syrian asylum seeker residing in Sweden was jailed for planning to attack random victims with a knife in Copenhagen in Denmark. Previously he had been suspected of an arson attack against a
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
mosque in
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
in Sweden, but was acquitted.
Swedish Security Service
The Swedish Security Service ( sv, Säkerhetspolisen , abbreviated SÄPO ; until 1989 ''Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning'', abbreviated RPS/Säk) is a Swedish government agency organised under the Ministry of Justice. It operates as a se ...
had tried to detain him due to national security, but he could not be deported and he was released again.
Trials
In July 2017, Dieab K. was sentenced to six years in jail by the ''Ravensburger
Landgericht ''Landgericht'' may refer to:
* Landgericht (Germany), a mid-level court in the present-day judicial system of Germany
*: For example,
** Landgericht Berlin
** Landgericht Bremen
* Landgericht (medieval) The ''Landgericht'' (plural: ''Landgerichte ...
''.
According to the judge, Dieab K. was completely under the influence of the Islamic State and that he methodically was following a plan for the terrorist attack.
In April 2019 the 30-year-old, now 32, was sentenced by ''Københavns Byret'' for having brought bomb making materials on a trip from Sweden in cooperation with the 21-year-old.
According to bomb disposal experts, the blast range of the device planned could have injured people up to 50 meters away.
See also
*
List of terrorist incidents in Denmark
This is a list of major incidents in Denmark where an organized group has attempted an act of violence targeting innocents. Dates in boldface are attacks that were carried out, dates without boldface are the date of arrest in plots that were not ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copenhagen terror plot, 2016
Failed terrorist attempts in Denmark
Islamic terrorism in Denmark
Islamic terrorism in Germany
Islamic terrorist incidents in 2016