Alleged Hamas Weapons Cache Discovered in Bulgaria

Jerusalem, 4 April, 2024 (TPS) -- Bucharest, April 4, 2024 (AGERPRES)
An alleged Hamas weapons cache was discovered during a German investigation into four members of the Palestinian Islamist movement suspected of planning attacks against Jewish targets in Europe, a judicial source said Thursday, cited by Agence France Presse.

This source thus confirmed an information published by the German weekly Der Spiegel.

The German federal prosecutor’s office, in charge of investigating terrorism cases, announced on December 14 the arrest of four men suspected of having the mission of collecting weapons in Berlin for possible attacks.

According to Der Spiegel, the German police had discovered in the mobile phone of one of the suspects photos of several guns, chargers and ammunition, as well as weapon parts in a plastic bag.

Thanks to the digital traceability of these photos, the investigators were able to discover a hiding place in southern Bulgaria. Later, the Bulgarian police captured the weapons, according to the German publication.

Contacted by AFP, the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of the Interior did not confirm this information.

Three of the four alleged Hamas members – an Egyptian citizen and two individuals born in Lebanon – had been arrested in Berlin. The fourth, of Dutch nationality, was arrested in Rotterdam.

The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office stated that one of the men, “starting in the spring of 2023, was tasked with locating for Hamas an underground weapons cache in Europe that the organization had hidden in the past”. He was receiving instructions from high-ranking officials of Hamas in Lebanon.

“The weapons were to be transferred to Berlin and made available for possible attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe”, said the German Prosecutor’s Office.