- Title: Germany arrests five men suspected of recruiting for Islamic State
- Date: 8th November 2016
- Summary: HILDESHEIM, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF HOUSE INVESTIGATED IN CONNECTION WITH ARREST OF SUSPECTED ISLAMIST MILITANTS/ POLICE WAITING IN FRONT OF ENTRANCE POLICEMEN POLICE VAN VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN ENTERING HOUSE VARIOUS OF BUILDING ACROSS THE STREET, WHERE SUSPECT AHMED ABDULASIS ABDULLAH A. IS ALLEGED TO HAVE GIVEN LECTURES ON ISLAM POLICEMEN IN FRONT OF APARTMENT HOUSE BERLIN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER THOMAS DE MAIZIERE ARRIVING FOR STATEMENT CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER, THOMAS DE MAIZIERE, SAYING: "The national security authorities were successful today in the fight against a suspected network, which allegedly recruited members in Germany for the terror organisation of the Islamic State, and tried to support them in and out of mosques." REPORTER TYPING ON LAPTOP (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER, THOMAS DE MAIZIERE, SAYING: "The success against this network is good news and shows that the security authorities - in this case especially the security authorities of the states - are active, alert and determined. We don't want terrorism to happen in Germany, we don't want terrorism to be exported from Germany and we want to avoid people being radicalised so much that they are in danger of becoming terrorists." REPORTER TYPING ON LAPTOP (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER, THOMAS DE MAIZIERE, SAYING: "Also the military fight against the so-called Islamic State is important and the ones who take part in this have to be charged, wherever they are, and we do everything to prevent terrorist attacks. I don't think much of assessing variations and nuances of terror threats every day in different ways." HILDESHEIM, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) APARTMENT BLOCK, WHERE INVESTIGATIONS TOOK PLACE VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS LEAVING
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2016 12:41
- Keywords: Islamic State recruiting arrests Germany de Maiziere
- Location: HILDESHEIM, BERLIN
- City: HILDESHEIM, BERLIN
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA00157L4ND3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere praised police on Tuesday (November 8) for the arrest of five suspected Islamist militants accused of recruiting fighters for Islamic State in Syria.
"The national security authorities were successful today in the fight against a suspected network, which allegedly recruited members in Germany for the terror organisation of the Islamic State, and tried to support them in and out of mosques," de Maiziere told reporters in Berlin.
"We don't want terrorism to happen in Germany, we don't want terrorism to be exported from Germany and we want to avoid people being radicalised so much that they are in danger of becoming terrorists," he added.
The five men - an Iraqi, a Turk, a German, a Serbian-German dual citizen and a national of Cameroon - face charges of setting up a "jihadist network" that tried to recruit Muslims to go to Syria and fight alongside Islamic State militants.
The network succeeded in smuggling a young man and his family to an Islamic State-controlled area in Syria, federal prosecutors said. They gave no further details.
Some 820 people have left Germany to war zones in Syria and Iraq and officials fear they could pose a security threat upon their return.
Fears about Islamist attacks rose in July after two separate attacks carried out by two asylum seekers in the name of Islamic State. Only the attackers were killed in both incidents.
The five men were arrested in raid in the states of Lower Saxony and North-Rhine Westphalia. They had held religious lessons during which potential recruits were handed "radical Islamic" material, prosecutors said.
"The lesson served as an ideological and linguistic basis for a future work with Islamic State, particularly to take part in combat operations," a statement by the federal prosecution office said.
The main suspect was identified as 32-year-old Iraqi Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A, an open supporter of Islamic State who is accused of overseeing the recruitment process and approving who got to travel to Syria.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency estimates that 8,900 ultra-conservative Muslims live in Germany. Some 500 of those are considered a security threat, which means they are willing to commit violence, security officials say.
Most the 820 people who left to war zones in the Middle East were radicalized by ultra-conservative Muslims. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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