Police in Germany's Bremen reduce presence after Islamist threat warning

BERLIN (Reuters) - Police in the north German city of Bremen, who warned on Saturday of a heightened danger from Islamist extremists, said they had slightly reduced their presence after searches revealed no hidden weapons. Ulrich Maeurer, interior senator for the city-state of Bremen, and its public prosecutors' office said no weapons were found when an Islamic culture center and the apartment of a 39-year-old Lebanese man were searched. The Lebanese man was suspected of procuring sub-machine guns and automatic pistols and distributing them to people connected with the Islamic culture center, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office in Bremen said. He and another suspect were arrested but a police spokeswoman said both were released on Sunday. Police did not specify the nature of the threat when they issued their warning on Saturday but in a statement on Sunday said there had been "a danger of a terrorist attack". Police said in a statement that they had slightly reduced their presence in the city center on Sunday after visibly stepping this up on Saturday but they were still providing the Jewish community with more protection than normal. Maeurer said there were more than 300 Salafists in Bremen and since autumn last year there had been indications that some of them were trying to get hold of weapons. (Reporting by Holger Hansen, Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)