An unidentified Nigerian man and an Algerian national have been detained in Germany over alleged plans to carry out a terrorist attack in the European country.
German news agency DPA reports that the suspects were arrested in the city of Goettingen while perfecting plans to attack parts of the European country.
The report said the men, who were aged between 23 and 27 years respectively, were taken into custody in a 450-strong police operation that took place during the night.
The report however said it could not be confirmed from the Goettingen police and the Interior Ministry of the state of Lower Saxony if any evidence was confiscated from the arrested men.
But both men were men were said to have been long active in the radical Islamist scene in Göttingen.
The 23-year-old Nigerian, who was not named and his Algerian counterpart have been classified by Germany‘s domestic intelligence agency as “a danger to others,” people who are prepared to commit acts of terrorism at any time.
Police chief Uwe Lührig was quoted as saying that indications of a “potentially imminent terror attack” had “solidified to such an extent in recent days,” that authorities elected to mobilize against the prime suspects and their close associates.
This development comes just as reports emerged that Germany is set to deport more than 12,000 Nigerians from the country in 2018 according to the country’s global head of programme, migration and development.
This is just a few days after the country is trying to deal with the deportation of 41 Nigerians from the UK.