Syrian refugees responsible for seizing Daesh militant in Germany

Three Syrian refugees guided police to a man with suspected links to Daesh, who was allegedly planning to blow himself up at a German airport.

Jaber al-Bakr, 22, from Syria, was found by police at a high-rise block of flats in the eastern city of Leipzig in the early hours of Monday morning after a 48-hour manhunt.

A police spokesman said three refugees had recognised Bakr from wanted posters, and two had bound and held him at the flat while the third brought a mobile phone photo to a local police station.

After praising the security officers who carried out the arrest, the German chancellor Angela Merkel said via her deputy spokesman: “Gratitude and recognition is also due to the [men] from Syria who informed police about the terror suspect’s whereabouts, which led to his arrest.”

Saxony police said Bakr was thought to be linked to Daesh. “Both his modus operandi and his behaviour suggest this has a Daesh context,” said the head of Leipzig’s criminal police, Jörg Michaelis.

Bakr was transported in a high-security van to Dresden city court, where he was due to appear before a judge.

German police discovered 1.5 kg of an extremely volatile explosive in Bakr’s flat in Chemnitz, near Leipzig. They identified it as triacetone triperoxide, 200g of which is enough to cause extensive damage.

Eighty people were evacuated from their homes as a result of the police operation targeting Bakr. A police spokesman said they would be able to return home on Tuesday.

During the manhunt for Bakr, extra security measures were reportedly put in place at airports and railway stations.

It is the fourth alleged bomb plot linked to Daesh that German authorities claim to have foiled this year. Two other attacks this summer claimed by Daesh, in which people were injured and both assailants died, have contributed to fears that Germany has become increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks.