Germany’s Head of BKA Says They Know How to Combat Terrorism

BKA Chief Holger Munch has claimed that Germany has prevented eleven terrorist attacks from occurring on the homeland since 2000. While Munch see’s the jihadist threat growing throughout Europe, he says its not luck that Germany has been spared a major terrorist attack, but rather outstanding cooperation between agencies.

The Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), is Germany’s version of the FBI and has acknowledged the threats made by the Islamic State (IS) include Germany. Munch says there are 470 people who pose a threat to public safety and the numbers have been on the rise over the past few years.

Reports have indicated that potential attacks in Germany included explosives/fire arms/suicide attacks on trains, Jewish, Israeli, American institutions, Christmas stores, visiting foreign dignitaries, and far right politicians.

Munch claims that Germany is a “transit country“, meaning that while terrorists move through Germany into Belgium, France and elsewhere, terrorists have not conducted operations from German territory. However, from 1998-2001 al-Qaeda’s “Hamburg Cell”, operated out of an apartment and were never detected by authorities.  He notes that Paris is Europe’s “terror capital.” Europol, the European Union law enforcement agency, found that 51 of all terrorist attacks in 2014 had connections to Paris, but it’s actually an improvement to 63 cases from 2013 and 125 cases in 2012.

The Joint Counter Terrorism Centre helps provide intelligence to both federal and state level law enforcement in regards to terrorism.

German law enforcement have foiled terrorist attacks but also conducted numerous anti-terror raids:

• June 25, 2013: German police arrest two plotting to use remote controlled helicopters with explosives.
• April 30, 2014: German’s arrest Turkish-German man planning to attack the Frankfurt May Day Cycle Race.
• March 22, 2015: Police arrest 18-year old IS fighter at Frankfurt Airport; a 22-year old IS fighter was also arrested earlier in March at Dusseldorf Airport.
• September 13, 2015: Authorities capture a 21-year old Moroccan posing as Syrian refugee and planning to commit a terrorist act.
• September 22, 2015: Authorities raid mosque believed to have IS recruiters working there.
• November 18, 2015: German police foil stadium attack.
• January 1, 2016: Captured suspected IS “New Years’ suicide bomber.
• February 7, 2016: German police conduct anti-terror raids of Mainz, Berlin, and Rhine-Westphalia.

Munch defended the amount of arrests law enforcement made in regards to terrorism compared to other European Union (EU) nations in 2014. France led the way with 238 arrests; Spain with 145; the United Kingdom 132; and Germany having 18. Critics’ claim that the BKA’s low arrest numbers have more to do with an unwillingness to investigate major jihadist hotspots in Berlin and Rhineland.

There are now a reported 680 Salafists in Berlin and of those about 360 are deemed dangerous by authorities, more than double reports from five years earlier.

Munch does mention the Duisburg neighborhood of Marxloh a notorious no-go zone. It has been the location of numerous reported assaults on police and German citizens.

European capitals have come under attack repeatedly, including the Madrid train bombing in 2004, the 7/7 attack in London, Paris in January and November of 2015, and most recently Brussels. Munch understands that Berlin is most likely a high target on their list.

Germany has made great strides in cracking down on jihadists entering Germany including those posing as refugees.

Germany has shown it has used good police and intelligence techniques in combating a growing terrorism problem, but with hundreds of thousands of refugees unaccounted for, and growing anti-immigrant backlash from the public, sooner or later a incident is going to erupt and Germany will find itself on the list of countries hit by the IS.