Editing Strasbourg Cathedral bombing plot (section)

==Arrests==
[[File:Cathédrale ND Strasbourg.jpg|thumb|170px|Strasbourg Cathedral Christmas market (2006)]]
After being tipped off by British intelligence, German police on 26 December 2000 discovered bomb-making equipment during a raid of an apartment in Frankfurt. Four men were arrested.<ref name="PBS">{{Cite news|title=Chronology: The Plots|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/special/cron.html|work=PBS Frontline|date=25 January 2005}}</ref><ref name="WashingtonPost">{{Cite news|title= Five Linked to Al Qaeda Face Trial in Germany|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/04/15/five-linked-to-al-qaeda-face-trial-in-germany/4b7c7dee-6dfd-4ed3-abba-bf474b58db74/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=15 April 2002}}</ref> Among the findings were several [[pressure cooker bomb|pressure cookers]], 30&nbsp;kg of chemicals that could be used to make explosives, and a notebook describing how to mix homemade bombs.<ref name="Guardian">{{Cite news|title= Four convicted of Strasbourg bomb plot|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/10/germany.france|work=The Guardian|date=10 March 2003}}</ref> A video was also discovered, showing a crowded Christmas market in [[Strasbourg]], with a voiceover in [[Arabic]] calling the people in the video "enemies of [[Allah]]."<ref name="PBS"/><ref name="BBC">{{Cite news|title=Jail for Strasbourg bomb plotters|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4102023.stm|work=BBC News|date=16 December 2004}}</ref> The voiceover, attributed to one of the suspects, further said "This cathedral is Allah's enemy," and "You will go to hell, Allah willing."<ref name="WashingtonPost"/><ref name="Guardian"/> The call that had alerted British intelligence had been made by one in the group asking Abu Doha, the alleged mastermind of the plot, for more cash; Doha was already wanted by the [[United States]] for his connection to the [[2000 millennium attack plots#LAX bombing plot|Los Angeles International Airport millennium bombing plot]].<ref name="PBS"/><ref name="WashingtonPost"/>

Members of the Frankfurt group were found to have trained in al-Qaeda camps in [[Afghanistan]], to have connections to Islamist networks in [[Spain]], [[Italy]], [[Belgium]] and the United Kingdom, and to the [[Algeria]]n terrorist group [[Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat]] (GSPC).<ref name="PBS"/><ref name="WashingtonPost"/><ref name="BBC"/> The discovery of the plot in Frankfurt led to further arrests in the United Kingdom, where another plot of killing members of the [[European Parliament]] was discovered, in which [[Member of the European Parliament|MEPs]] were to be killed with [[sarin]] [[Nerve agent|nerve gas]] during session in Strasbourg in February 2001.<ref name="PBS"/><ref name="Telegraph">{{Cite news|title=Bin Laden British cell planned gas attack on EU Parliament|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340692/Bin-Laden-British-cell-planned-gas-attack-on-EU-Parliament.html|work=The Telegraph|date=16 September 2001}}</ref> British police arrested twelve people including Doha in February 2001 as a result of the Frankfurt operation.<ref name="WashingtonPost"/> All British suspects were quickly released due to "lack of evidence," although Doha was subsequently re-arrested.<ref name="WashingtonPost"/> According to the [[Crown Prosecution Service]], the charges against six main suspects were dropped for "security reasons," which was linked by others to an [[MI5]] bid to "monitor" the group.<ref name="Telegraph"/>