2007 bomb plot in Germany

Fritz Gelowicz (born 1979) was considered the leader of the plot.[14][15] He was born in Munich and moved to Ulm with his parents and brother at the age of 5. He was raised in an upper middle class family where his father was a solar heating salesman and his mother was a nurse.[16][17] His parents separated when he was 15, and Gelowicz remained with his father. He converted to Islam between the ages of 15–18 while attending the Multikulturhaus in Neu-Ulm, and used the name Abdullah.[14] The Multikulturhaus, with its radical sermons, was at the time one of the main Salafist centers in Germany; it was closed in 2005.[2]

He enrolled to study engineering at Ulm University where he joined an extremist Islamist study circle, which regularly met at Café Istanbul. Members of the study group legitimized the killing of Jews, Christians and infidels. Gelowicz was also a member of extremist circles based at the Multikulturhaus in Neu-Ulm.[13]

Gelowicz lost interest in his engineering studies and took an 18-month break from the University. During the break, he took Arabic language courses in Egypt and Syria as well as religious courses in Saudi Arabia. He also took part in the hajj to Mecca. According to U.S. authorities, Gelowicz trained at camp belonging to the Islamic Jihad Union in tribal areas of Pakistan.[13]

He was married in January 2007, to a German-Turkish woman.

• Daniel Schneider (born 1986), lived in Saarbrücken. He dropped out of the twelfth grade after only a few weeks. He converted to Islam at the age of 19, and spent time studying the Koran and Arabic in Egypt.[15] Like Gelowicz, his parents were divorced when he was young and he had many Turkish friends, who seem to have introduced him to Islam. Schneider also spent 9 months as a conscript in the German army and trained in munitions. He met Gelowicz at the Islamic Jihad Union training camp in Pakistan.
• Adem Yilmaz (born 1979), was raised in Turkey.[18] He came to Germany with his family in 1993. He has two younger sisters and a younger brother. His family lives in Germany's Hessian area.[15] He holds both German and Turkish citizenships.[2] He met Gelowicz and Selek in January 2005, when all three were making a pilgrimage to Mecca.
• Atilla Selek (born 1975) was a supporter of the group. He was born in Germany to Turkish parents and obtained German citizenship in 2005.[10] Selek and Gelowicz met at the Multi-Kultur-Haus in Neu-Ulm.[2] As Atilla had hidden criminal proceedings against him for breaches against gun regulation from the passport authorities during his application, those authorities removed his citizenship in 2011 on the grounds that it had been fraudulently obtained. This rendered him stateless.[10]

Seven lesser figures were also being hunted. Only five are known by name. The other two have been identified by aliases. Four of the ten suspects (including Yilmaz) have been identified as Turkish.[19]

The solution containing 35% hydrogen peroxide[24] had been purchased legally.[25] Authorities who were observing the group surreptitiously replaced it with a harmless 3% solution at the end of July 2007.[26] The Pakistani terror camps had reportedly trained their members to make bombs using peroxide as it was easy to procure, and unlikely to rouse suspicion.[27] The hydrogen peroxide was to be concentrated by being heated, and then mixed with flour.[28] It was found later that many of the 26 military detonators the group had purchased would not have worked.[28]

Three used vans had also been purchased in France, and brought into Germany, possibly to be the carriers for the bombs.[4]

The authorities did not find a direct link between the cases in Germany and Denmark, but in both cases they also found material for bomb-making in addition to the suspected links with al-Qaeda. Both German and Danish suspects used the Internet to try to communicate with their Pakistani network.[32]

The perpetrators were primarily motivated by strong anti-Americanism fuelled by interaction with extremists inside Germany, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and their radicalization increased after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[13]

• Fritz Gelowicz received a 12-year prison sentence for membership in a terrorist organisation abroad, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause an explosion, conspiracy to blackmail constitutional organs, and preparation to cause an explosion offence. He was granted early release in August 2016 after having been in jail for nine years.[9]
• Adem Yilmaz received an 11-year prison sentence for membership in a terrorist organisation abroad, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause an explosion, conspiracy to blackmail constitutional organs, and preparation to cause an explosive offence. He received a shorter sentence since the members of the group had offered confessions on his initiative.
• Atilla Selek. received a 5-year prison sentence for attempted murder and resisting enforcement officers (for the events during his arrest), as well as for membership in a terrorist organisation abroad, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause an explosion, conspiracy to blackmail constitutional organs, and preparation to cause an explosive offence. He was released in 2011 after having served two-thirds of his sentence. His citizenship was revoked.[9]
• Daniel Schneider received a 5-year prison sentence for supporting a terrorist organisation abroad and preparation to cause an explosive offence.[8] He was released in July 2011.[10]