Germany foils 'air terror plot'

[DoYouEverWonder]

20 November 2006

German officials say they have uncovered a terrorist plot to blow up a passenger plane in Germany.

Six suspects were questioned by police in Germany on Friday over the alleged plot, but were released on Saturday, the federal prosecutor's office said.

Several suspects allegedly approached a contact in the summer who had special access to a restricted airport zone.

The plan was to plant explosives in a piece of luggage, investigators said, without giving further details.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6164886.stm

If the suspects were plotting a terrorist attack, why did the Germans release them from prison the next day?

[Mythsaje]

1. Things that make you go

Hmmm...

That's what I was thinking. Foiled terror plot, but let the terrorists go?

How does that make ANY sense at all?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. Maybe they weren't terrorists.

They were "suspects." Maybe they didn't have any evidence to hold them.

[Mythsaje]

3. If that's the case, they hardly "foiled" anything...

Stupid news services.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Then why is this Breaking News then?

Why the big headline 'Terror Plot Foiled' or does the press just make this stuff up whenever they need to up their sales?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. I don't know.

I don't know enough about German law to say. Could they be held without charges?

[Crayson]

9. 24 hours

24 hours I think...

after that a judge has to order his arrest which is called "Untersuchungshaft" which means he can be held as long as the case is being investigated and he is a suspect, but has to be released as soon as counter evidence occurse.

[Kiouni]

4. I don't trust'em

The're never up front about what's really going on and most of the time the german police just lie. Look back at Munich Massacre.

[Crayson]

10. If the Munich Massacre is your only point of reference...

... then your information is probably pretty outdated.

But usually "the police" doesn't know anything in such cases.
They're just as ignorant as ordinairy people.
It's the intelligence agencies that hold the power for lies and coverups... and every country has them.

[Eurobabe]

6. Just f'ing great...

We fly on Friday. No one is immune anymore - whether this is cooked up or not, who knows? We've had several bomb scares on local transport systems since the summer.

[crickets]

7. These days, putting the buzzwords in little quotes

apparently makes it OK to lie in the headline. (Didn't you see the quote marks? We didn't really mean it! It was just for effect!) It's like a marketing tactic aimed at people who skim over article headings looking for ones they actually want to read. In this case one gets the impression the 'news' folks hope people don't read the article and take yet another misleading headline as a capsule news update.

Grr.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Yes; it means the BBC isn't making the claim, someone else is

In this case, the German police. Quote marks mean you're quoting someone else. This is the correct use of them.

[crickets]

14. I understood :)

It's not unusual for news sources to do that, even when the quote itself is less than honest. Thanks, though.

[Roland99]

11. Exactly! How can you foil a plot and then let the suspects go?!?!?!

P R O P A G A N D A

[CJCRANE]

13. Ummm....

"One of those arrested on Friday remains in custody in connection with another investigation, the officials said".

If the one remaining in custody is being questioned about something else and they've let the rest go, then what exactly have these "German officials" they foiled?