BERLIN — German authorities foiled what they believe may have been an imminent Boston Marathon-style attack on a professional cycling race planned for Friday, seizing a cache of weapons, including a pipe bomb, and chemicals that can be used to make explosives in a raid on a suspected Islamic extremist's home outside Frankfurt.
Authorities detained a 35-year-old Turkish-German man and his 34-year-old Turkish wife in the raid in the town of Oberursel. The couple, whose names weren't released in line with German privacy rules, had been under surveillance.
Security officials were worried that the couple might have been targeting the one-day Eschborn-to-Frankfurt race, which draws about 200 professional riders and thousands of spectators on the May Day public holiday. Police said the race would be canceled in case the couple had accomplices or placed as-yet undetected explosive devices along the route.
Suspicions were heightened when police recently observed the male suspect, a trained chemist, apparently scouting the area where the race was slated to take place, said Frankfurt's chief prosecutor, Albrecht Schreiber. The race was supposed to pass through Oberursel.
“The result of the raid shows that our suspicions were confirmed,” Schreiber told reporters Thursday at a news conference in Wiesbaden, the state capital of Hesse.
“According to our current information, we have prevented an attack,” said Stefan Mueller, the chief of police for western Hesse state.
Authorities in Germany long have warned that the country is at high risk of an attack, having been named as a target by terrorists, including some who joined the Islamic State group. Mueller declined to say whether authorities believe known extremist groups were involved.
In the Boston Marathon attack, three people were killed and more than 260 injured when two bombs exploded at the finish line April 15, 2013.
“Of course, we talked about the Boston attack last night,” said Mueller, explaining why security officials decided to go ahead with the raid.
