The mysterious French-speaking man — believed to be in his 20s — "has done everything to hide his identity," investigator Svend Foldager said.
The man was arrested in a park in Copenhagen on Friday after allegedly setting off a small explosion in the bathroom of a hotel where he had been staying. The suspect was slightly wounded but no one else was hurt.
Foldager could not say whether the blast was terror-related. Calls to the suspect's defense lawyer were not returned Monday.
The suspect, who can be he held until Oct. 4 under a court order, requested Christian, Muslim and Jewish scriptures to read while in custody, Foldager said. He told reporters the man carried a forged Belgian identity card, and also used two other false identities. Police have distributed surveillance video of the man, hoping for tips from the public about who he is.
Investigators on Monday briefly sealed off the park where the man was arrested to search for more clues. It was unclear whether anything was found and the park reopened four hours later.
The suspect, who received the help of a French interpreter during his appearance in court, was also charged with possession of a firearm before being remanded in custody.
The accused, on crutches, with the lower part of one leg missing and with injuries to his face, denied the charges and told the court through his interpreter that he could not recall either his age or his name.
“We have too many identities, but not the right one,” said Svend Foldager, the police inspector leading the investigation.
The suspect, who was arrested in a park near the hotel soon after Friday’s blast spoke English, French and German but not Arabic, said Foldager. He hid behind several identities and was not cooperating with the police, he added.
His appearance, according to the Ritzau news agency, suggested he was either from the Balkans region or from north Africa.
For Hans Joergen Bonnischsen, former head of Denmark’s PET intelligence service, the ticket suggested that the man had not been preparing a suicide attack.
Together with the images of him in the post office, it suggested that he had been preparing a parcel bomb, Bonnischsen said.
