14-year-old in Cologne: suspected terrorist by IS propaganda!

14-year-old in Cologne: suspected terrorist by IS propaganda!

A 14-year-old adolescent from Cologne is the focus of the investigation due to the suspicion of spreading Islamist terrorist propaganda. According to Südkurier the young expressed specific intent in December 2025 to commit an attack to a Christmas market in Cologne. The work of security authorities confirms that it is said to have shared videos and symbols of the Islamic State (IS).

On Friday, the youth's apartment was searched, and the Cologne public prosecutor confirmed that an investigation is currently underway against him. He is accused of having violated the ban on IS in Germany and having used forbidden license plates. There are reports that the young person also thought about a possible departure and published Islamist content on social media, including TikTok.

Investigations and reactions of the authorities

The police took custody to the young people and treated them to a detection. However, the boy was not in police custody and voluntarily came to the police to have his identity determined. Chief Prosecutor Ulrich Bremer made it clear that there has so far been no concrete suspicion of membership in IS and confirmed that there are no specific attack plans that aim at the Christmas market, so Tagesschau .

NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul expressed his concern about the unbroken radicalization of young people through social media and described Tiktok as a "incubator for extremism". He called the situation "outrageous" and spoke of "attack fantasies". The minister pointed out that security authorities have recently been observing cases of radicalization among minors, especially on platforms such as TikTok.

radicalization tendencies in adolescents

The problem of radicalization of young people via social media is underpinned by various scientific work. Studies show that Islamism in young people often gains importance through identity -creating aspects and through access to violence -oriented content on the Internet. This tendency is particularly worrying, since the motives for such radicalization processes are often deeply rooted in personal, social and cultural contexts, as in DetailsOrtKöln, DeutschlandQuellen

• www.suedkurier.de
• www.tagesschau.de
• www.bpb.de