Three teenagers have been charged in Germany with planning a terrorist attack. The trio, who have been detained since April, are suspected of plotting an attack “in accordance with the goals and ideology of the Islamic State”, according to a spokesperson for the court in Düsseldorf. Striking: 2 of them are girls.
The three were arrested when they were 15 and 16 years old. A court recently ruled that they must remain in jail. The case against a fourth suspect from the state of Baden-Württemberg has been transferred to the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office.
According to prosecutors, the teenagers exchanged plans for terrorist attacks via the Telegram platform and discussed attacks on churches, courts, train stations and police stations. Investigations allegedly showed that they had agreed to a crime and were making preparations. It is not clear where and when they wanted to commit an attack.
The police were the first to track down a 16-year-old girl from Iserlohn, southeast of Dortmund. There were indications that she wanted to leave the country to join Islamic State. She had talked about this with another suspect, a 15-year-old girl from Düsseldorf. The chat messages about the attack plans were found during the investigation of the telephone of the girl from Iserlohn.