Suspect Jaber al-Bakr in Germany bomb plot arrested after nationwide manhunt

Europe's most wanted man who was suspected of plotting a bomb attack in Germany was arrested today following a nationwide hunt.

Fugitive Syrian refugee Jaber al-Bakr was caught tied up in a compatriot’s apartment in the eastern city of Leipzig following a weekend of high drama.

His arrest came at 12.40am after he had telephoned the fellow Syrian in the Paunsdorf section of the city from the main railway station saying he was seeking a place to shelter.

But the man he thought was offering him a safe place to stay subdued him, tied him up and contacted police because he had heard the news of the vast manhunt underway.

The search was launched after a kilo of explosives were found at his home 50 miles away in the city of Chemnitz during a raid on Saturday.

“We have done it and are very happy,” tweeted the police force of the state of Saxony after his arrest.

Another apartment in Chemnitz was raided by heavily armed officers of the specialist SEK unit last night after stun grenades were hurled into it.

A woman and a child were also in the apartment and they had to be treated for shock.

The police took away a suspected accomplice of al-Bakr.

Al-Bakr came to Germany in February last year on a Syrian passport via Austria.

On Saturday three other men suspected of helping him in a plot to bomb a regional airport were also seized in Chemnitz.

Intelligence agencies say al-Bakr learned his bombmaking skills from Islamic State in his homeland using the explosive TATP. While the ingredients for TATP are easy to come by, the assembly of a DIY bomb from them is extremely technical.

Al-Bakr had been on the radar of the internal intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, for months.

On Friday the Cologne-based agency contacted law enforcement personnel in Chemnitz to say that his plan was about to be put into force. An entire area of the city around the Usti nad Labem street in an area called the Fritz-Heckert settlement was cordoned off.