German special forces have arrested a Syrian suspected of being a member of the Islamic State group, local authorities said Tuesday, citing a threat to the opening game of the upcoming Bundesliga football championships.
The 24-year-old man was arrested on Friday in Mutterstadt, a city in the western state, before investigators raided a flat in Duisburg, some 300 kilometres (180 miles) northwest in North Rhine-Westphalia state.
The suspect, an asylum seeker from Syria, arrived in Germany at the start of the year and has been living in North Rhine-Westphalia, according to Germany’s department for distributing refugees around the country.