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German police arrest Syrian man wanted in alleged bomb plot

A police barrier tape and a vehicle of a forensic team blocks off the entrance to an apartment in the Paunsdorf district of Leipzig, Germany, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Two days after explosives were found in an apartment in Chemnitz, German police arrested a terror suspect, a Syrian national named Jaber al-Bakr, in Leipzig following a nationwide manhunt. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
A police barrier tape and a vehicle of a forensic team blocks off the entrance to an apartment in the Paunsdorf district of Leipzig, Germany, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Two days after explosives were found in an apartment in Chemnitz, German police arrested a terror suspect, a Syrian national named Jaber al-Bakr, in Leipzig following a nationwide manhunt. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP) A police barrier tape and a vehicle of a forensic team blocks off the entrance to an apartment in the Paunsdorf district of Leipzig, Germany, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Two days after explosives were found in an apartment in Chemnitz, German police arrested a terror suspect, a Syrian national named Jaber al-Bakr, in Leipzig following a nationwide manhunt. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

By Associated Press 2 min read

BERLIN (AP) – German police arrested early Monday a Syrian man who is suspected of preparing a bomb attack, following a nearly two-day manhunt.

Jaber Albakr, a 22-year-old who had been granted asylum in Germany, was arrested in the eastern city of Leipzig, police in Saxony state said. Leipzig is around 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Chemnitz, where he had evaded authorities on Saturday and where authorities found explosives.

Police were informed that fellow Syrians were holding the suspect at an apartment in Leipzig, and “immediately went there and arrested him,” Saxony police spokesman Tom Bernhardt said.

He added that police aren’t giving further details “because we do not want to provoke any dangers for those persons who gave us the tip.”

Albakr, who comes from the Damascus area, escaped authorities on Saturday when they raided an apartment in Chemnitz. Investigators said they found “several hundred grams” of a volatile explosive hidden in the apartment, enough to cause significant damage.