They Hate Us for our Smørrebrød
Danish police arrested eight people—six of whom are Danish citizens, and all, according to Swedish television, have "foreign backgrounds"—early this morning, claiming that they stopped an imminent, though as of yet unspecified, attack on the country. A spokesman for the Danish security service PET claims that all eight have connections to "leading members of the terrorist organizational-Qaeda ." This morning's raid was just the latest in a string of arrests in Denmark, a country targeted, according to terrorism experts, for the publication of the now-infamous Mohammad cartoons and its military involvement in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Reuters has the full story:
The Muslims arrested ranged from 19 to 29 years old. They came from Afghan, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish backgrounds and six were Danish citizens, Scharf said.
"Our investigation has shown that some of the suspects had acquired materials to make explosives," he said.
He did not say whether any explosives had been found but said important evidence had been discovered in the raids in central Copenhagen and its suburbs.
And in Denmark, the suspects can be remanded for long stretches of time, without being charged:
Later on Tuesday, a Copenhagen court remanded two of the suspects—the ones believed to be the main players—in custody for 27 days. Suspects can be remanded in custody under preliminary charges for many months in Denmark, with the right to periodic hearings in court.
During the so-called "cartoon crisis," Tim Cavanaugh asked readers to "just say no to Mohammad's hit men."