"TikTok jihadist" arrested 15-year-old allegedly planned attacks in Germany
A 15-year-old was arrested in Germany for allegedly planning attacks. For experts, this is a case of "TikTok jihadism".
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- A 15-year-old is arrested in Germany for suspected plans to carry out an attack.
- The suspected Islamist is classified as dangerous by the police.
- Suspected targets were discussed in a chat with an Islamist abroad.
- Experts refer to the increasingly young IS supporters as "TikTok jihadists".
He is only 15 years old and has now been arrested by the Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime. According to Der Spiegel, the police have classified the suspected Islamist as a threat.
The teenager was probably in contact with an Islamist abroad via chat, where alleged plans for an attack were discussed. Jewish communities and festivals were targeted.
This dimension of terror suspects getting younger and younger is apparently a growing trend. Of 60 Islamists arrested in the last eleven months, almost two thirds are between 13 and 19 years old, according to Der Spiegel.
Re-enactment of executions
Extremism researcher Peter Neumann refers to these people as "TikTok jihadists" and explains: "In almost all of them, there were clear indications that their radicalization took place mainly or even exclusively online."
Research by RTS television in French-speaking Switzerland has shown how IS operates. Seemingly harmless context, violence: the Islamic State uses re-enactments of executions or suicide attacks to lure potential recruits. The clips come from games on the Roblox gaming platform, which users can download from the Google Play Store. From there, they are distributed on TikTok.
For the Federal Intelligence Service, the threat level in Switzerland is therefore also high. The most plausible terror scenario for the intelligence service is currently "an act of violence by a single person inspired by jihadism".
