German authorities said on Dec. 13 they had arrested five men on suspicion of involvement in a plot to plough a vehicle into people at a Christmas market.
Officials have been on high alert during the festive season, after a deadly car-ramming attack at a market in the city of Magdeburg last Christmas shocked the nation.
Police and prosecutors said they had detained an Egyptian, three Moroccans and a Syrian over the plan to carry out the attack in southern Bavaria state.
Investigators suspect "an Islamist motive" for the plot, according to the statement.
The Egyptian, aged 56, was an imam at a mosque in the Dingolfing-Landau district, German newspaper Bild reported.
According to authorities, he had called for an attack to be carried out on a Christmas market in the area "using a vehicle in order to kill or injure as many people as possible."
The Moroccans, aged 30, 28 and 22, allegedly then agreed to carry out the attack while the Syrian, 37, encouraged them.
All the suspects were brought before a magistrate on Dec. 13 after their arrest and are in custody.
Joachim Herrmann, state interior minister in Bavaria, told Bild the "excellent cooperation between our security services" had helped to prevent "a potentially Islamist-motivated attack."
Last year's attack in Magdeburg, which saw a car barrel through a crowded market, killed six people and wounded more than 300.
