Germany's domestic intelligence agency denied on Thursday its head had told German lawmakers a prime suspect in the Paris attacks had documents about the Juelich German nuclear research centre.
BERLIN: Germany's domestic intelligence agency denied on
Thursday its head had told German lawmakers a prime suspect in the Paris
attacks had documents about the Juelich German nuclear research centre.
The Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group had cited
sources in a parliamentary committee as saying BfV intelligence agency
chief Hans-Georg Maassen had told the committee in March about the
documents on Juelich."This is not right," a BfV spokeswoman said. "We have no information about this. Our president Maassen never talked to any members of parliament."
The media group had reported that printouts of articles from
the internet and photos of Juelich chairman Wolfgang Marquardt had been
found in the apartment of Salah Abdeslam in the Molenbeek area of
Brussels.
Abdeslam, who born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents,
was arrested on March 18 in the Belgian capital and four days later,
suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and a metro train.The 26-year-old is now in Bruges prison awaiting extradition to France over his suspected involvement in the Nov. 13 shooting attacks in Paris.
Concerns that Islamist militants are turning their attention
to the nuclear industry's weak spots have risen since the Brussels
attack.
Juelich is near the Belgian border and atomic waste is stored there.
The centre said in a statement there was no indication of any danger and
that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear
supervisors.
RND reported that Maassen had informed the committee in
charge of monitoring German intelligence agencies whose meetings are
confidential. Two committee members also told Reuters that they had not
been informed about the matter.
The BND foreign intelligence agency declined to comment.(Reporting by Michelle Martin, Madeline Chambers and Thorsten Severin; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
- Reuters
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