UPDATE - Germany thwarts suspected Nazi terror attack

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS AND COMMENTS BY INTERIOR MINISTER OF STATE OF NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, CHANGES DECK, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) – A suspected Nazi terrorist attack was prevented in Germany’s western city of Essen, officials said on Thursday.

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said at a televised news conference in Duesseldorf that police discovered material for a bomb for a terror attack at the home of a 16-year-old high school student in Essen.

He added the material was functional but not operational.

Police managed to foil the terror plot after a "whistleblower" reported to them, according to Reul.

The suspect had previously told him that he wanted to place a bomb in his school. It is thanks to this whistleblower and the emergency services that "worse things were prevented here," the state minister said.

The arrested teenager is being investigated on suspicion of preparing a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state. The Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office responsible for terrorism took over the investigation, an unnamed spokesman for the authority and the North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Ministry, announced on Thursday.

The police in Essen are investigating possible planned terror attacks at two schools.

"We can confirm that the suspect is a 16-year-old German student from the Don Bosco High School," the police said.

A police spokeswoman told the German Press Agency (dpa) that the special anti-terror police unit had searched the suspect's apartment early in the morning.

Based on dpa information, there are signs of right-wing tendencies by the accused as a manifesto was found in which he refers to several people whom he says he hates.

According to Reul, the police found SS runes, and numerous right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim manuscripts in the suspect’s home.

The police are reportedly interrogating the suspect and his parents.

According to German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, far-right violence is “the biggest threat to democracy” in the country.

Neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists committed 21,964 crimes in Germany last year, the government reported on Tuesday.