An attempted terrorist attack in the city of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, was thwarted Friday, it has been cleared for release this evening.

On Friday afternoon Jerusalem police received reports that a local security patrol had stopped a suspicious-looking man, who appeared to be “drunk”, standing at the entrance to the city.

Police dispatched a patrol car and when officers arrived and began questioning the suspect, they noted he appeared very nervous and was answering their questions in a suspicious manner.

At that point police acted quickly to arrest the man, and discovered that he was concealing a 30 cm knife on his person.

The suspect, a 34-year-old man from the Arab of Abu Dis, revealed under interrogation that he had been planning to carry out a stabbing attack in Maale Adumim.

Maale Adumim police station commander, Superintendent Rafi Cohen, noted that only the vigilance of local security guards and quick action by police had prevented a potentially deadly terrorist attack.