The Latest: Fellow Syrians led to bomb plot suspect's arrest

Saxony criminal police chief Joerg Michaelis and Saxony's Interior Minister Markus Ulbig, from left, attend a news conference in Dresden, eastern Germany, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, after the 22-years-old Jaber Albakr was arrested in the eastern city of Leipzig, following a nearly two-day manhunt after explosives have been found in his apartment on Saturday. (Oliver Killig/dpa via AP) (The Associated Press)

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Police cars with tinted windows leave the district court in Dresden, eastern Germany, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, after the 22-years-old Jaber Albakr was arrested in the eastern city of Leipzig, following a nearly two-day manhunt after explosives have been found in his apartment on Saturday. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer) (The Associated Press)

A police officer stands in front of the entrance to an apartment in the Paunsdorf district of Leipzig, Germany, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Two days after explosives were found in an apartment in Chemnitz, German police arrested a terror suspect, a Syrian national named Jaber al-Bakr, in Leipzig following a nationwide manhunt. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP) (The Associated Press)

BERLIN – The Latest on the arrest of a suspect in an alleged bomb attack thwarted in Germany:

9:53 a.m. (all times local):

A police spokesman says fellow Syrians led to the arrest of a Syrian whom authorities allege may have been preparing a bomb attack in Germany.

Saxony police spokesman Tom Bernhardt said Monday that police were informed that 22-year-old Jaber Albakr was being held at an apartment in Leipzig, and "immediately went there and arrested him."

Bernhardt says police aren't giving further details "because we do not want to provoke any dangers for those persons who gave us the tip."

Jaber Albakr, who had been granted asylum in Germany, was arrested in Leipzig, a city around 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Chemnitz, where he had evaded authorities on Saturday.

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7:36 a.m.

Experts are trying to determine whether the explosives they found in an apartment in Saxony state over the weekend were the same ones used in the deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels.

The explosives used in the Nov. 13 and March 22 attacks are known as TATP, or triacetone triperoxide.

TATP has been used in many attacks over the years, and is favored by violent extremists because it's fairly easy to make and detonate.

The explosives were destroyed Saturday in a controlled detonation by bomb squad experts in a pit dug outside the five-story apartment building because they were considered too dangerous to transport.

German media have reported that Albakr is believed to be connected to Islamic extremist groups, but Saxony police have not commented on his possible motive or the bomb plot's target.

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7:09 a.m.

German police say they have detained a 22-year-old Syrian man who was the subject of a nationwide hunt and is believed to have been preparing a bomb attack.

Police in the eastern state of Saxony tweeted early Monday that Jaber Albakr was detained overnight in the eastern city of Leipzig. They were not immediately reachable for further details.

Albakr, from the Damascus area of Syria, escaped the authorities Saturday during a raid of his apartment in nearby Chemnitz. Investigators said they found "several hundred grams" of a volatile explosive hidden in the apartment.

The raid came after Saxony police were given a tip from Germany's domestic intelligence service that Albakr may be planning an attack.

German media have reported that Albakr is believed to be connected to Islamic extremist groups.