Police car in Copenhagen, Denmark
Police car in Copenhagen, DenmarkiStock

Danish police on Thursday carried out a raid in Copenhagen and arrested a man suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism, authorities said, according to The Associated Press.

Flemming Drejer, the operative head of Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service, known by its Danish acronym PET, said the suspect was trying to acquire weapons and munition, and was planning to carry out “one or several attacks.”

Copenhagen Police Chief Inspector Joergen Bergen Skov said the man is suspected under the country’s terror laws and will face a pretrial custody hearing on Friday behind closed doors. The suspect was not identified.

“You must have no doubt that PET’s efforts have led to the prevention of a terrorist attack,” Bergen Skov told a joint news conference with the domestic intelligence service, according to AP. They declined to give details as to where and when the attack or attacks would take place.

“We believe he was acting alone,” Dreyer said, adding the man had "a militant Islamic motive.”

Denmark, like many other countries, is dealing with the radicalization of locals who travel to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State (ISIS) and then return to their home countries seeking to carry out attacks.

The country was attacked in 2015 by Omar El-Hussein, who opened fire on the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen, killing Israeli security guard Dan Uzan.

El-Hussein was also responsible for a shooting attack on a Copenhagen café. His actions are believed to have inspired a 17-year-old Danish girl who was charged with planning to bomb two schools in the country, including a Jewish school.

In 2017, a citizen born in Denmark had his citizenship revoked after being convicted of being a member of ISIS.

Earlier that year, Denmark announced it would stop paying benefits to ISIS terrorists, including anyone considered to be a national security risk or who may have traveled to join armed group abroad.

This past December, Danish police arrested some 20 people suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism in a series of raids across the country.