Germany foils air bombing plot

BERLIN, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Federal German police in Berlin announced they had broken up a plot to blow up a passenger aircraft and had detained six people.

In a rare release about an ongoing investigation, the Federal Criminal Police Office said Monday they had searched nine homes in southern Germany on Friday and arrested six people, Der Spiegel reported. Five were released Saturday and the sixth was held on an unrelated matter, police said.

Investigators said the group first met last summer and had plans to blow up an aircraft next summer with the help of a person who had access to the security area of an airport. The person reportedly was willing to load an explosive-packed suitcase onto an aircraft but the other suspects were locked in haggling over how much they wanted from a financial backer, the report said.

Names and nationalities of the suspects were not disclosed nor was the legal status of the suspects, the report said.