Four arrested in Denmark and Netherlands over terror plot

Three people have been arrested in Denmark and one in the Netherlands on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack. Danish police said Thursday's arrests followed a coordinated cross-border police effort.

It was initially unclear what the suspects' motives were or whether they were related to Islamist militancy or to far-right groups. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service PET said in August that the threat towards Denmark had intensified after anti-Islam activists damaged several copies of the Koran over the summer.

"The investigation has revealed that a network of people has been preparing a terrorist act," said Flemming Drejer, PET chief superintendent, told a press briefing in Copenhagen.

"The arrests and the raids we're carrying out today are based on an intensive investigation that PET has carried out in close cooperation with our partners abroad," he said.

The police raids were ongoing across the country and were carried out at an early stage of the investigation, he said.

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The network had links to organized crime both in Denmark and abroad, including to a gang named Loyal To Familia, or LTF, Dreyer said, but declined to elaborate on possible motives.

"This is extremely serious," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told news agency Ritzau at a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.

"For a number of years now, we have seen that there are people living in Denmark who do not wish us well, who are against our freedom and who are against Danish society, with all that it entails," Frederiksen said.

PET has for more than a decade warned against potential attacks. The police said it kept unchanged its terrorist alert level at 4 on a scale from 1-5, reflecting a "significant" threat.

The three arrested in Denmark would be charged under the terrorism clause of the criminal code and put in front of a judge for preliminary questioning, the police said.

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