German police say they believe one of three men taken into custody for questioning over their contacts to a bomb-plot suspect on the run might have been involved in the plan.

Saxony police said Sunday that two of those picked up Saturday in the eastern city of Chemnitz had been set free, but one is now being held on suspicion of being a co-conspirator in the attack plan. They gave no further details.

A nationwide hunt is underway for the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Jaber Albakr from the Damascus area of Syria.

Police on Saturday raided an apartment where he was thought to be and found several hundred grams of "highly volatile" explosives hidden, but the suspect was not there. Experts then destroyed the explosives in a controlled detonation.