Less than a week before the country starts hosting the UEFA football championship, German officials have arrested a man suspected of supporting the Islamic State terror group.
Worryingly, the German press reported that the alleged terror supporter had applied to work as a steward and security staff for ‘side events’ during the European championship, which starts this Friday, June 14th. His application was unsuccessful.
The Islamic State threatened to target a list of major football venues earlier this year during the UEFA Champions League football games. This prompted officials to boost their alert and “response systems. German lawmakers have already claimed that they are preparing for “all conceivable dangers” ahead of these upcoming games.
The man—identified by some newspapers as Soufian T, 23—was arrested at Cologne’s Bonn Airport on Friday, June 7th, exactly a week before Germany’s match with Scotland in Munich. Britain’s Sun newspaper claims that when Euro employers checked his security application, they found that the German state had deemed him an Islamist.
Investigators claim that the joint German-Moroccan-Polish national transferred around €1,500 in September 2023 to an account belonging to Islamic State–Khorasan Province (ISKP), an offshoot of the IS terror group.
They also found “suspicious recordings” during a search of his home, which resulted in the seizure of mobile phones, computers and around €2,500.
The detained had also applied for accreditations for a rock music festival and a racing event in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The suspect is being investigated on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation abroad and of violating the Foreign Trade and Payments Act.
