German police arrest second suspect after tip-off on possible attack

Interior minister in North Rhine-Westphalia says the arrest was related to "acts of violence" in Syria not Germany

German police on Wednesday arrested a suspect in connection with an investigation into a 24-year-old Syrian refugee detained on Friday after authorities were tipped off that he was planning a possible religiously motivated attack, officials said.

But the interior minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Ralf Jaeger, said Wednesday's arrest was related to "acts of violence" in Syria and that there was no evidence of concrete plans to carry out an attack in Germany.

Jaeger also denied German media reports that the Syrian refugee arrested on Friday was planning to carry out an attack at the start of the Bundesliga soccer season, on August 26.



"There were no concrete plans for an attack in Rhineland-Palatinate or North Rhine-Westphalia, especially not against the soccer Bundesliga," Jaeger told a news conference.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Duisburg declined to comment on German media reports that the suspect arrested on Wednesday in Dinslaken, in North Rhine-Westphalia, was also a Syrian refugee.

The Syrian man arrested on Friday in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate remains in police custody.