Denmark: Four charged with plotting terror attack in Europe

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A Danish prosecutor on Thursday charged four young Muslims with helping to supply weapons and explosives for a planned terror attack in Europe.

Five other suspects in the case have been charged in Bosnia, including two men accused of preparing to blow up an unidentified European target. Three other suspects have been charged in Britain.

Prosecutor Henning Fode said the four men arrested in Denmark last October helped the two main suspects in Bosnia get hold of "weapons and explosives with the aim of committing a terror act."

All four, who cannot be named under a court order, have denied wrongdoing. Danish investigators have released little information about the suspects, but said two of them are 17, and the others are aged 20 and 21.

If convicted they could face life in prison, although such sentences are commuted after 16 years under Danish law. A trial date has not yet been set.

Sarajevo arrests

The probe stems from the Oct. 19 arrests in Sarajevo of Swedish national Bektasevic, 19, and Abdulkadir Cesur, an 18-year-old Turkish national living in Denmark.

Bosnian prosecutors said Bektasevic and Cesur were planning an attack in Bosnia-Herzegovina or at some other unidentified site in Europe with the aim of forcing the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Police raiding their Sarajevo apartment allegedly found a suicide bomber belt, explosives, firearms and other military equipment, as well as a videotape showing masked men asking for God's forgiveness.

Bektasevic and Cesur have pleaded innocent.

Three others have been charged with helping them obtain explosives.

The four suspects in Denmark were arrested Oct. 27 after a tip from the Bosnian police. Three other suspects were arrested in Denmark, but have been released. It was not immediately clear whether they also faced charges.

Danish intelligence agents wiretapped their telephones, and said three of them had telephone contacts with Bektasevic and met with him three times in Denmark.

Authorities in Denmark, Sweden, Bosnia and Britain have been cooperating in the investigation.

In Britain, Younis Tsouli and Waseem Mughal are charged with conspiracy to murder and cause an explosion in an alleged plot to mount a terrorist bomb attack. The third defendant, Tariq Al-Daour, faces less serious charges, including conspiracy to obtain money by deception and possession of money for terrorist purposes.

The three, all in their early 20s, are due to stand trial next year.