Two Swiss citizens have been arrested in Germany after the German authorities strongly suspected they wanted to buy explosives to attack a large town in Switzerland, reported RTS.
The suspected plan involved two Swiss citizens buying explosives in Stuttgart for a crime planned in a large Swiss town, announced the police and prosecutor of the German region Baden-Württemberg, which contains the city Stuttgart. There was nothing to indicate a political motive for the planned attack, added the announcement.
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) confirmed that it knew of the arrests, and along with the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, that it was working closely with the authorities in Baden-Württemberg regarding the matter.
The two men (24 and 26 years old) were arrested on Monday before appearing before a judge on Tuesday. They have been provisionally detained.
The pair have been under investigation since the beginning of June after leaving evidence of their desire to buy explosives on the dark web. The dark web is a part of the World Wide Web that uses specific software to connect private computers. It is not indexed by regular search engines and provides greater anonymity.
André Duvillard, a representative of the Swiss Security Network (SSN) told RTS that the fight against criminality and terrorism involves international collaboration. These arrests show the perfect functioning of transnational cooperation. In addition Duvillard said that the risks in Switzerland are always high. Since the Federal Council adopted its counter terrorism strategy the question has never been to establish whether Switzerland will be hit but rather when, he said.
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