German authorities have arrested an Islamic student at Frankfurt airport with suspected links to a terrorist cell in the country, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The federal prosecutors office in the western city of Karlsruhe said in a statement 29-year-old Turkish student Harun A. was arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of "membership of an Islamist terrorist organisation planning serious violent attacks".
It said the suspect was a leading member of the so-called Kaplan group, an underground Islamist organisation.
The group is led by Metin Kaplan, also known as the "caliph of Cologne", who is accused of plotting a holy war against the Turkish government to replace it with a religious regime.
German intelligence says that the group has some 1,300 supporters in this country.
Harun A. was arrested at Frankfurt airport as he planned to fly abroad, according to the prosecutor's statement.
The authorities found a suit for protection against atomic, biological and chemical weapons, combat fatigues, a helmet and materials to build explosives in his luggage.
A CD-ROM was also discovered that included a training programme for "God's warriors" with detailed instructions for joining the "holy war".
The prosecutors office said the German federal police were now investigating.
Judicial sources said the man was in custody in the western German city of Darmstadt pending further investigation.
A report in Tuesday's edition of the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper said Harun A. was preparing to board an Iran Air flight to Tehran when he was arrested.
The report quoted security sources as saying the material found in his possession was typical of "sleepers" -- terrorists who lead low-profile, law-abiding lives until they are called upon to strike -- Frankfurt, (AFP)
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