Talk about cutting it close. The two suspects were actually seated on the plane and ready to hit the skies when police moved in. From the Daily Mail:
SAS-trained German police commandos stormed an airliner to seize two suspects they believed were plotting a terrorist outrage.
The armed Special Action Commandos grabbed a 23-year-old Somalian, and a 24-year-old German born in Somalia, from the KLM aircraft at Cologne without shots being fired.
German prosecutors said both were suspected members of the Islamic Jihad Union and had tickets to travel on to Pakistan from Amsterdam via Uganda.
Speculation in Germany was that police believed they were going to Pakistan to receive further terrorist training - or possibly orders for attacks on U.S. bases in the country.
However, it was unclear whether they had managed to smuggle explosives aboard Flight KL1804.
After they were taken away, they were made to identify their luggage, which was also seized.
Read it all. Notice that another German terror suspect that authorities are tracking is a white German by the name of Eric Breininger. All part of Al-Qaeda's plan to train and recruit native white Europeans who can slip through security more easily.