Danish police arrest three people suspected of planning terror attacks

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023 Copyright AP Photo/Virginia Mayo
Copyright AP Photo/Virginia Mayo
By Alessio Dell'Anna with AP
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It comes only two days after the Netherlands announced it raised its terrorism threat level to 'substantial'

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Danish police detained three people on Thursday on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks.

The arrests were made in coordinated operations across the country, police said. They also added another person was arrested in the Netherlands on the same charges.

Danish PM Mette Frederiksen deemed the facts "extremely serious", speaking from Brussels, where she's attending a key EU summit centred around Ukraine's accession hopes.

Terror threat levels rising across EU

Later on Thursday Israel's Prime Minister's office affirmed the suspects were linked to Hamas. Germany also announced on Thursday the arrest of four suspected Hamas members.

Denmark's current terror threat alert is at level four, the second highest.

EU Home Affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson recently warned that Europe faces a “huge risk of terrorist attacks” over the Christmas holiday period, linking it to the Israel-Hamas war fallout.

Anti-Islam activists stirring tensions in Denmark

In an effort to prevent radicalisation, earlier this year Denmark passed a bill banning Quran burning.

The law makes it illegal to desecrate any holy text, after a handful of anti-Islam activists carried out public desecrations of the Quran, sparking outrage in majority-Muslim countries.

Denmark is not new to terrorism episodes. 

In July 2022, a gunman at a shopping mall in Copenhagen killed three people and injured seven. The man, who believed the victims were zombies, was sentenced in July to detention in a secure medical facility.  

He had been charged with murder and attempted murder in the rampage at the huge Field’s shopping center, on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

In 2015, a 22-year-old Danish Muslim gunman killed two people and wounded five others at a free speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen.

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