Germany holds man suspected of storing explosives

German police arrested a 27-year-old man on Wednesday (August 17) in the eastern town of Eisenhuettenstadt on suspicion of storing materials that could be used as explosives but later said there were no signs he had been planning a terrorist attack.

Nerves are raw in Germany after a spate of attacks on civilians, including two claimed by the Islamic State militant group and a mass shooting in Munich by a deranged 18-year-old that was also initially seen as terrorism-related.

“Everyone is very sensitised if we receive certain tips, especially in the current situation,” said Ingo Heese of the police Brandenburg. “So we do not operate with normal police forces but we take it very seriously and use special forces.”

Heese said following a police search of the man’s flat that there were no indications he had an Islamist militant motive.

Officers only found pyrotechnical products in the apartment and the man was still being questioned, he said.

The website of German news magazine Focus initially reported that the man had a militant Salafist background and was suspected of plotting to attack a festival in Eisenhuettenstadt, near the Polish border, though it later quoted police sources as saying this was not the case.

The annual festival, where there will be a fairground, circus and a variety of musicians performing on stage, will kick off with a lantern procession on Aug. 26 and run until Aug. 28.

Organisers of Munich’s annual Oktoberfest, the world’s biggest beer festival, have decided to tighten security in response to the July attacks, with a ban on rucksacks, security checks at all entrances and new fencing.