Police arrest seven in Denmark, Netherlands and Germany over suspected terrorist attack

Danish authorities on Thursday (Dec 14) said that they foiled a terrorist attack after several arrests were made in the Netherlands and Denmark.

The police said that seven people, including four suspected Hamas members, were arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe.

Three of the suspects were detained in Berlin and another was detained in the Netherlands, all four longstanding members of Hamas with close links to the leadership of Hamas' military branch, German prosecutors said in a statement.

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"The investigation has revealed that a network of people has been preparing a terrorist act," Flemming Drejer, PET chief superintendent, told a press briefing in Copenhagen.

There were "ramifications involving other countries" and organised crime, he said.

"The arrests and the raids we're carrying out today are based on an intensive investigation that PET has carried out in close cooperation with our partners abroad," he added.

Drejer said other suspects currently abroad were also believed to be involved in the plot.

The network had connections with organised crime both in Denmark and outside of the country. It also had links with a gang named Loyal To Familia, or LTF, Dreyer said.

The PET and police districts conducted raids in the morning and made the arrests in several parts of the Scandinavian country, said the officials.

The PET put the threat at four on their five-point threat scale considering it to be critical.

Police stepped up their presence in Copenhagen but said the capital remained "safe".

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the operations "show us the situation that Denmark is in".

"This is extremely serious," she said.

"It is of course - in relation to Israel and Gaza - completely unacceptable for someone to bring a conflict elsewhere in the world into Danish society," she said.

"For several years we have noted that there are people who live in Denmark and who do not wish us well, who are against our democracy, our freedom, and who are against Danish society," she told reporters.

The three arrested in Denmark would be charged with terrorism laws and put in front of a judge for preliminary interrogation, police said.

Anti-Danish sentiment over Quran burnings

Earlier, during summers this year, Denmark and neighbouring country Sweden witnessed violence after incidents involving the desecration of the holy book, the Quran.

Both countries were also targeted by several Muslim-majority nations.

In Iraq, nearly a thousand demonstrations were staged outside the Danish embassy in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone in late July following a call by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Between July 21 and October 24 this year, 483 book burnings or flag burnings were recorded in Denmark, according to national police figures.

(With inputs from agencies)