Arresting suspect, Danish police thwart ‘militant Islamic’ attacks

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish police carried out a raid in Copenhagen and arrested a man suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism, authorities said Thursday, adding he likely acted alone.

Flemming Drejer, the operative head of Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service, known by its Danish acronym PET, said the suspect was trying to acquire weapons and munition, and was planning to carry out “one or several attacks.”

Copenhagen Police Chief Inspector Joergen Bergen Skov said the man is suspected under the Scandinavian country’s terror laws and will face a pretrial custody hearing on Friday behind closed doors. The suspect was not identified.

“You must have no doubt that PET’s efforts have led to the prevention of a terrorist attack,” Bergen Skov told a joint news conference with the domestic intelligence service. They declined to give details as to where and when the attack or attacks would take place.

“We believe he was acting alone,” Dreyer said, adding the man had “a militant Islamic motive.”

Danish authorities have reported foiling several extremist attacks in recent years, including ones linked to the 2005 publication in a newspaper of 12 cartoons by various artists depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

In December, Danish police arrested “some 20 people” suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism in a series of raids across the country. Both Drejer and Bergen Skov said Thursday’s arrest was not linked to that case.