COPENHAGEN - Two Danish brothers originally from Somalia have been arrested on suspicion of plotting a terror attack, Denmark's security service said Tuesday.
The men, aged 18 and 23, were suspected of "being in the process of preparing an act of terror" after being overheard talking about methods, targets and different weapon types, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service said.
The agency, known by its Danish acronym PET, said the brothers were arrested late Monday — one in the western city of Aarhus and the other as he arrived by plane at Copenhagen's international airport.
The suspects are "Danish citizens of Somali origin" who have lived in Denmark for 16 years, the agency said.
The Copenhagen Post newspaper reported that the men are believed to have connections to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaida.
The men were charged with receiving training with the aim of committing an act of terror, in what the agency said are the first known terror-trained suspects in Denmark.
"According to PET's assessment, the arrests have prevented a concrete act of terror and the arrests therefore don't lead to a changed evaluation of the terror threat in Denmark," the agency said, adding that the terror threat level in Denmark remains "serious."
PET's former operative chief Hans Joergen Bonnichsen said previous suspects had been "kitchen-table terrorists" with no experience or training.
The Scandinavian country has been in the crosshairs of Islamist terror groups after the publication of newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
"To me there is no doubt that the latest arrests are rooted in the Muhammad cartoons," Bonnichsen said.
A Somali man living in Denmark was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 10 years in prison after breaking into the home of one of the cartoonists with an ax in 2010.
Last year, a Chechen-born man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for preparing a letter bomb that exploded as he was assembling it in a Copenhagen hotel in 2010.
Another trial is under way in Denmark against four men accused of plotting a shooting spree at another Danish newspaper.
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This is why there is so much anti immigration rage in Scandinavia and in reality all across Europe. These Islamic nutcases are growing bolder as there numbers grow in each of these countries. I see a bad moon rising. This planets future looks mighty bleak, glad to be older.
It is time we rounded up all the Muslims in our Western Societies world wide and sent them to their native land to worship their Allah and revere their Sharia Laws. Ever wonder why all the flights on a weekend from all Muslim Countries are fully booked as these mad men who are rich and can afford the price tag are heading to western civilizations so that they can Drink Alcohol, have sex with hookers and Party till early mornings then they go home Sunday Night or Monday Bight and call themselves Muslims! LOL they are a bunch of maggots and we need to treat them as such!
Amen! The entire culture of the hate filled islam believers is killing, violence, subjugation, and denial of rights to any one who believes differently. And, these cowardly terrorists muslims are not a minority, they are supported quietly by the silent muslims who sit idly by and do nothing. Wake up world, islam is the greatest scourge this world has ever seen.
so, you are saying that Christiniaty is not filled with hate either? Perhaps it is not that evident here but gays are been slaughtered here in this U.S. and elsewhere particularly Africa in the name of the Christian God... wake up everyone... organized religions are nothing but power hungry entities... rich power hungry entities... to be a compassionate, moral, good invididual you need not be religious.. just a good person with good values...
Most religions are stupid. Islam is terrifying.
Please give us an example of how Christianity has slaughtered gays in this country. That to take your Rosie O"Donnel pulpit some where else. Since God does not accept the homosexual lifestyle you and everyone like loves to attack those that do beleive in God
Gays are being slaughtered in Am,erica? Complete and total lie and being a liar seems at odds with practicing good morals.
Where are gays slaughtered? If anything, the past 15 years, they ram their morals down my throat....
Godless leaders are some of the brutalist in History.
Most Muslims I know are horrified by the insanity done in the name of their religion. However that said I really feel that more can be done. I love that the insane Muslims want to live in our countries, but we must change our laws and how we live our lives so that we don't offend. Look if a woman want's to wear a burka in 105' heat that's her call, just don't stone the women who don't.
I also notice that we are quick to lock up the Muslim religious leaders who spout hate from their Mosques but we let so called Christian leaders spew their hate from the pulpit every sunday (and all the days inbetween) and don't do a thing.
Remember people having faith in a god is a natural thing, but organized religion well that's man made and thus is not the word of god but the word of men trying to make us all conform tho their beliefs. Whether it's Islam, Christianity, Judism or any other religion that swears that theirs is the way of god don't believe it for a moment. God doesn't care how you live your life, as long as you are not harming anybody else. Once a religious leader tells me that if I don't believe the same way as he does I'm going to hell, he's lost me.
The deaths caused by organized religion proves my point, all the dead and nothing changes.
What Muslim religious leaders are we locking up for spouting hate? I do not know of a single case in the US. We have freedom of speech.
If you allow garbage to pile up in your back yard, one day it will stink. It is starting to stink in Denmark and in the U.S. Get rid of them.
The next war for America and Europe will be fought on our soils. The war is being prepared from the inside out by infiltration. America and Europe - Careful! Stupid is as stupid does. Americans see it - why can't our governments see it? Oh, but of course they do see it! They are just too centered on their own personal "power and wealth" and could care less what danger America or Europe is in. Wow, and we have 2 idiots to choose from for President. Yikes! When "prayers" are all we have left, we are in BIG trouble!
My question is the following: Somalia being a country where nearly 85% of the population is illeterate, where the government depends on foreign aid, where most of the citizens are involved in illegal activities, why then do developed European countries, as well as the States and Canada, welcome these scum (university students my foot) to emigrate when the same countries are cutting funds to help their own citizens?
Denmark imports ghetto dwellers from Somalia, gives them government subsidies, accommodates their Islamic culture and in return expects them to behave civilized and respectful of other people's opinions. But you can't change what is permanently damaged even after 16 years, and the two brothers have already sworn their eternal allegiance to a some dead corpse that has never given them anything in return.