German police detained a suspected member of Hamas shortly after he entered the country via the A17 motorway near the Czech border, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The Lebanese-born man, who was arrested on Tuesday, is accused of obtaining weapons intended for attacks on Israeli or Jewish sites in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe said in a statement.
The suspect was due to be transferred to Karlsruhe, where he will appear before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice to determine whether he will be kept in custody, prosecutors added.
According to prosecutors, the man is believed to have acquired an automatic weapon, eight pistols and more than 600 rounds of ammunition in Berlin in August 2025. He allegedly delivered them to another suspected Hamas member who is already in pretrial detention.
The seized weapons and ammunition were recovered when that alleged accomplice was arrested, prosecutors said.
Authorities said Danish police had also carried out searches in Copenhagen and surrounding areas at properties linked to the detained man and one other suspect.
German authorities have increased investigations into Hamas-linked networks following several arrests earlier this year.
Prosecutors in Berlin last month detained three other suspected Hamas members accused of procuring weapons for potential attacks.
“The weapons were meant to be used for murderous attacks on Israeli or Jewish facilities in Germany,” authorities said at the time but added that the suspects had not devised a fully-fledged plan.
The investigation has since widened across the continent, with Austrian prosecutors having recently discovered a weapons cache in Vienna, believed to be in connection with “foreign operational structures of the terrorist organisation Hamas.”
Meanwhile last week, British police arrested a man in London accused of transporting and storing weapons in Vienna as part of the same cross-border probe.
The latest arrest comes amid growing European cooperation in counter-terrorism investigations, as authorities look to coordinate efforts to disrupt Hamas-linked operational networks.
European security officials have warned of the heightened risks of antisemitic violence since the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas on 7 October 2023.
