Bomb Suspect Under Arrest, Bonn Reveals

West German police revealed Thursday that they have arrested a Lebanese whom they suspect of planning to bomb American, Israeli and Jewish targets in the Federal Republic.

The man, whom police did not identify, was said to be a 21-year-old physics student living in Darmstadt. He was described as a “fanatic” Shiite Muslim who may belong to the extremist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

The suspect was arrested in Munich, and a police official there, Erwin Hoesel, said papers in his apartment indicated that he planned to strike at U.S. civilian and military targets, at synagogues and at Israel’s El Al airline and an Israeli trade center.

According to Munich police, he was also planning a bomb attack on a discotheque, similar to an assault in West Berlin in April, 1986, which killed two U.S. servicemen and a Turkish woman and injured more than 200 people.

Arrested Last Month

The suspect was apprehended June 22, police said. He was being interrogated secretly, but the investigation was disclosed Thursday by the Munich newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Police said that they intercepted a coded letter from the suspect mailed to Beirut in September, 1988, in which the student said he was willing to attack targets if he were supplied with weapons or explosives.

Although he declined to identify the suspect, Hoesel, when asked if the student was working for a terrorist organization, said: “If I tell you he is a fanatic Shiite Muslim, that should give you an idea.”

The intercepted letter, Hoesel added, described Israeli and Jewish community buildings in Munich.

“It was obvious they were targeted for attacks,” he said.

Although the letter was in police possession for some time, they said it was only last month that they were able to identify and locate the author.

“When his apartment was searched,” said Hoesel, “further reports and documents were found, including several descriptions of U.S. military and civilian facilities, like discos and bars frequented by U.S. military personnel.”

West German police arrested 14 Palestinians last October and found devices that could be used to set off explosions in airliners. However, most of those suspects were released for lack of evidence, an action later criticized by U.S. authorities.

In December, a New York-bound Pan American World Airways flight was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 persons on board the plane and on the ground. The blast was attributed to a bomb placed aboard the jetliner.

Earlier this week, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that terrorism is a major threat in West Germany and suggested that the Popular Front would try to carry out attacks in the Federal Republic.