German authorities say they have arrested a Syrian refugee on suspicion of seeking funds from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group to drive truck bombs into a crowd.
The arrest on January 2 follows an attack two weeks ago when a Tunisian whose asylum request had been rejected rammed a truck into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people.
In the latest case, the prosecutor in the southwestern city of Saarbruecken said a 38-year-old unemployed Syrian was detained on December 31 on suspicion that he was trying to raise 180,000 euros ($188,000) to fund an attack.
Prosecutor Christoph Rebmann said the man, whom he did not name but said he migrated from Raqqa to Germany two years ago and was granted refugee status, was suspected of seeking the money from IS in Syria to buy trucks and load 400-500 kilograms of explosives into each of them.
Rebmann said the man had admitted making contact with IS but denied he had any plans to stage an attack, saying he intended to use the money to support his family in Syria.