German Police Arrest Two Suspects in Terror Attack Plot in Berlin

German police have arrested two suspects believed to be planning a terrorist attack in Berlin. Meanwhile, according to the German newspaper Bild, one person is in custody on suspicion of trafficking several weapons for the Paris terrorists. According to Reuters, Germany's special anti-terrorism police arrested two men, aged 28 and 48, at two locations in southern Berlin on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks on Thursday, December 5. Just hours earlier, police had searched an Islamic center in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. A police spokesperson refrained from providing information about the detainees or the raid on the Islamic center, stating only that the search and arrest operation was conducted following warnings from intelligence agencies about a 'real threat' of terrorist attacks. This operation comes at a time when, following the Paris attacks and an increase in security alerts to the highest level in Belgium during the week, Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, has also announced that the security alert level in the country will remain high until further notice. Although Belgian police have now lowered the security alert level in the capital, Brussels, from the highest level of 4 to 3, and after about a week, schools and the subway in the city reopened on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Berlin-based newspaper Bild reported on Friday that four automatic weapons used in the Paris terrorist attacks, which left 130 dead, were purchased from a weapons trafficker in Germany. The newspaper cited documents from the Stuttgart prosecutor's office stating that two AK-47 assault rifles and two Zastava M70 rifles were sold by a weapons trafficker to a customer in Paris on November 7, 20 days prior, and French police believe that these weapons were likely used in the Paris attacks. The Stuttgart prosecutor's office has refrained from commenting on this matter but confirmed that a 34-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of illegal arms sales. According to Bild, this man is accused of selling the weapons via the internet to a customer who spoke with an 'Arabic accent' in Paris. The report states that police obtained four emails from this individual's mobile phone indicating that he had sold 'four Kalashnikov assault rifles' to this customer.