Danke, Merkel!

“German police foil alleged plot to attack Berlin half-marathon,” Associated Press, April 8, 2018:

Six people have been detained in connection with what police and prosecutors allege was a plan to carry out an extremist attack on Berlin’s half-marathon.

“There were isolated indications that those arrested, aged between 18 and 21 years, were participating in the preparation of a crime in connection with this event,” prosecutors and police wrote in a joint statement. Berlin police tweeted that six people were detained in cooperation with the city prosecutor’s office.

The German daily Die Welt first reported that police had foiled a plot to attack race spectators and participants with knives.

The main suspect allegedly knew Anis Amri, a Tunisian who killed 12 people and injured dozens more when he drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in December 2016, Die Welt reported.

One of the apartments police raided before the race started on Sunday was also searched after the Christmas market attack, the newspaper said.

Die Welt also reported that the main suspect, who was not identified, had prepared two knives to use in the attack. It also said that dogs trained to find explosives had barked when they were taken into the basement of one the apartments searched….