German soldier arrested on suspicion of planning attack
BERLIN — Police have arrested a German soldier who had posed as a Syrian refugee on suspicion he was planning an attack, apparently motivated by anti-foreigner sentiment, in a case that prosecutors said Thursday was “more than strange.”
The 28-year-old lieutenant, whose name wasn’t released, faces charges of preparing an act of violence, said Frankfurt prosecutor’s spokeswoman Nadja Niesen.
The officer, who was “of German background” and stationed in France, allegedly stashed a loaded pistol in a bathroom at the Vienna airport that was discovered, leading Austrian authorities to take him into temporary custody when he went to retrieve it in February, Niesen said.
Though under investigation in Austria, authorities there did not keep him in custody and he was arrested in southern Germany on Wednesday.