Denmark is willing to arrest suspected jihadists. But it is not willing, nor is any other Western state, to attack the problem at the other end, and even to question prospective immigrants about their views on jihad and Islamic supremacism.
“Denmark arrests 8 terror suspects,” by Jan M. Olsen for Associated Press (thanks to all who sent this in):
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Denmark’s intelligence service early Tuesday arrested eight Islamic militants linked to leading al-Qaida figures, and said the suspects were plotting an attack involving explosives.
“With the arrests we have prevented a terror attack,” said Jakob Scharf, head of the PET intelligence service.
He did not identify the target.
The suspects “” six Danish citizens and two foreigners with residence permits “” had been under surveillance for some time and were arrested after police gathered enough evidence against them, he said.
“They also have been producing an unstable explosive in a densely populated area,” Scharf said.
He said Danish investigators had worked with “several foreign cooperation partners” in the probe before they rounded up the suspects, ages 19 to 29.
“Those arrested are militant Islamists with connections to leading al-Qaida persons,” Scharf said without naming those people. “According to our assessment, there is a direct connection to al-Qaida.”
The suspects “” of Afghan, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish origin “” were arrested without incident, Scharf told reporters. He declined to say whether more people were being sought. Eleven locations were raided in and around Copenhagen, including the Ishoej suburb and the Noerrebro district of the capital.