A SUSPECTED ISIS terrorist has been arrested near a German city playing host to the 2024 Euros.
Cops detained the alleged sleeper agent who is suspected of planning an attack on the championship games.
GettyGerman cops have arrested a suspected ISIS terrorist[/caption]
EPAGermany plays Hungary at the Stuttgart arena in Germany on Wednesday[/caption]
German cops take part in an operational drill to prepare for the Euros at a football stadium in May
Named only as Mahmoud A, investigators believe the suspect may have been affiliated with terrorist death cult ISIS since 2016.
It comes after Thomas Haldenwang, head of Germany’s intelligence agency, warned there was a “high chance” of a terror attack at the tournament.
Mahmoud, from Iraq, arrived in Germany in October 2022.
Cops pounced on him in Esslingen, a town on the outskirts of Stuttgart where Euros matches are set to kick off in the city’s stadium.
Germany itself played Hungary there on Wednesday, just hours after the suspected terrorist was arrested.
Federal cops announced his arrest today before interior minister Nancy Faser doubled down on Euros security warnings, BILD reports.
She said: “Our security authorities are extremely vigilant, follow every tip-off and strike hard to protect our country against Islamist threats.”
Intelligence boss Haldenwang said this week that the principle threats to the 2024 games could come from Islamic extremists.
He pinpointed ISIS splinter cell ISIS-K as the main “focus of attention” for any potential concerns.
As this year’s championship kicked off, The Sun told how Berlin was set to secure stadiums across the country with tens of thousands of armed cops.
Security expert Will Geddes, who has worked with Premier League clubs, told The Sun that the UEFA Euro 2024 championship presents a “wide spectrum of potential risks and issues” amid a “very high level of risk” from ISIS.
Will, who leads a team of security experts at International Corporation Protection (ICP), closely monitors ISIS chatter.
Working with analysts who have experience in military, intelligence and law enforcement, his team have seen ISIS make “very specific references to Germany“.
Crowds will be monitored closely under widespread CCTV, AI, the watchful eye of “super spotters” and plain-clothed officers, he said.
Police around the country were even told they couldn’t take leave during the summer of football.
The monumental move is the biggest mobilisation in the organisation’s history.
A total of 580 international officers have also been drafted in to make up specialist security units.
They are expected to be on hand for each day of the month-long event monitoring transport, fan zones and tourist hotspots.
UEFA, European football‘s governing body, expects over 2.7 million fans to rock up to Germany across ten cities.
Euro 2024 security worries
By Georgie English, Foreign News Reporter
PITCH INVASION
On Monday 17, a fan managed to run on the pitch before being dragged off by security in Romania’s 3-0 thumping of Ukraine.
The supporter, who was wearing a yellow t-shirt, appeared from the stand behind the goal before a Ukraine corner.
He managed to get to Romanian star Nicolae Stanciu, but was swiftly whisked away by stewards.
CLASH IN THE STANDS
Turkey’s Euro 2024 clash with Georgia descended into chaos before kick-off after fights broke out in the stands as water poured from the roof.
Footage from the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund showed rain from a storm drenching seats by the pitch.
Around the same time, crowd violence began to erupt inside the ground between the two sets of fans.
Objects were reportedly thrown between two sections as fighting ensued.
The scene was described as “absolute bedlam” by journalist Daniel Storey with fears the game could be suspended.
A small section of supporters from both sides could be seen throwing punches and pushing.
CRAZED AXEMAN
Last week, shocking footage showed a man with a golden pickaxe walking towards cops with a Molotov cocktail.
Police were forced to draw their guns and deploy pepper spray moments before the suspect was arrested on the streets of Hamburg.
The Reeperbahn strip, not far from where thousands of Dutch supporters were gathering to watch their match against Poland, was quickly closed off to the public.
ARRESTING TERROR SUSPECTS
Pre-tournament German cops announced that they had arrested a suspected ISIS terrorist while he was trying to sneak his way into the Euros.
Anti-terror investigators caught Soufian T, 23, who is said to have applied to get a pass as a security guard for “side events” outside the football stadium.
Cops from the Cologne police department, along with investigators from the Bonn State Security Service and federal police, arrested the German-Moroccan-Polish citizen with his mother and sister at Cologne-Bonn Airport.
TRANSPORT CHAOS
Organisers of the Euros have already been heavily criticised during the early stages of the tournament amid transport chaos.
Following England’s win over Serbia on Sunday, some Three Lions fans were stranded in Gelsenkirchen for up to THREE HOURS.
Bogestra, responsible for transport in Gelsenkirchen, claimed that “it is normal to wait” when 50,000 people are trying to get home.
They added that their concept “worked overall”, and that their target was to get everybody transported within two hours of the final whistle.
Bogestra also claimed that social media “overrated” the issues, and that it is “impossible” to have all fans moved within an hour.
They alleged that fans used emergency brakes before the game, which led to some of the delays.
German intelligence have been gearing up to defend against a possible terror attack at the Euros
