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  The Fourth Man: Suspect in German Bomb Plot Tells His Story

The Fourth Man Suspect in German Bomb Plot Tells His Story

By Holger Stark in Konya, Turkey

Part 3: 'I Didn't Know about the Plan'

Perhaps it was already clear at the time that the story would not end well. There are many indications that a course had already been set at the time, that these young radicals from Germany, after returning from Mecca, were searching for a way to enter the mystical world of jihad.

Gelowicz traveled to the Syrian capital of Damascus in the summer of 2005, supposedly to attend a language course. An organization calling itself the Sheikh Ahmed Kuftaro Foundation even issued a certificate stating that Gelowicz attended the course between August 2005 and June 2006. Selek flew to Damascus a short time later to complete a preparatory year for attending university.

Investigators today believe that they can prove that Gelowicz traveled secretly from Syria to Pakistan in March 2006, to the Islamic Jihad Union's training camp. He apparently used a forged passport so that the visa stamps couldn't be checked. They also believe Selek went to the Pakistan camp, but they have no proof. The two young men apparently got together in Damascus. They met once or twice, according to Selek.

Investigators believe that the trips abroad are one of the keys to understanding this case. They also believe that the second phase of the radicalization of these young German Islamists began in Syria and Pakistan. It was in this phase that their rejection of Western decadence was combined with concrete ideas and practical tools.

In Pakistan, the group apparently discussed the basic elements of the plan Gelowicz and his cohorts eventually intended to carry out -- and that made Selek into a closely-watched suspect in Turkey, "even though I've never been to Pakistan," as he insists.

The evidence against the other three men, Fritz Gelowicz and his two friends, Daniel S. and Adem Y., is relatively clear. Federal prosecutors accuse them of being in contact with the IJU, but even though they are unable to prove the connection to Pakistan, there is sufficient evidence against them in the form of the seized hydrogen peroxide, the military detonators and the conversations recorded in a rental car in which they talked about killing as many Americans as possible.

Selek's case is more difficult. When it comes to political convictions, there are many similarities between Selek and Gelowicz. They even lived together for a few days in January of this year. But their paths divide at an important juncture: when the preparations for the attack became more concrete.

Selek says that he saw Gelowicz for the last time in late January or early February, at Gelowicz's wedding in a Turkish mosque on the banks of the Danube River.

Selek moved to Konya in early February. He married a young Turkish woman there in June and registered with local authorities as an official resident. He planned to start a new life.

Selek claims that he had no knowledge of the planned attack. "I can't deny that the chemicals and the arrests were real, but I didn't know about the plan," he says. Perhaps he's telling the truth. Or perhaps he knew about the idea and reached a different decision than Gelowicz, because the pressure after that New Year's Eve had become too great for a young man like him. And it could also be the case that he did his friend Fritz one or two more favors along the way.

The German federal prosecutors are now convinced that they can prove that the Islamists used a code when communicating by e-mail between Germany and Turkey. According to the e-mail evidence, they apparently arranged for the delivery of the detonators in Istanbul in late August, and one of the e-mail correspondents was believed to be Selek. But Selek denies this: "I was no longer in touch with Gelowicz, and I don't know the other two."

His attorney Manfred Gnjidic -- who also represents the German rendition victim Khaled el-Masri -- says that prosecutors can't even prove that the supposed reconnaissance mission in Hanau took place. "Now we'll see," says Gnjidic, "whether the new evidence is just as thin."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan