Targets in Germany scouted out, possible crime scenes explored – a suspected terrorist cell has been exposed. Seven suspects are arrested in Germany.
The federal prosecutor’s office has uncovered a suspected Islamist terrorist cell in North Rhine-Westphalia and arrested seven suspects.
The men, who mainly come from Tajikistan, are accused of founding a terrorist organization in Germany and planning attacks, according to the highest German prosecutor in Karlsruhe. They are also said to have supported the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS). As Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) reported in Düsseldorf, those arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia are between 20 and 46 years old.
Another man from Tajikistan and his Kyrgyz wife were reportedly arrested by Dutch authorities. According to the Dutch police, the couple is also suspected of having prepared terrorist crimes.
“Germany in the immediate target range”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser spoke of a “significant blow against Islamist terrorism”. The SPD politician emphasized in a statement that the tough stance against Islamists is being continued. The threat remains acute. “Germany continues to be in the immediate target range of Islamist terrorist organizations and Islamist-motivated individual perpetrators.”
The men arrested in Germany – according to Reul all in North Rhine-Westphalia – are five suspects from Tajikistan and two others from Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s findings, they all have a radical Islamic attitude.
There are also “black sheep” among refugees
Shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, they entered Germany together and formed a terrorist organization. The aim was “to perpetrate high-profile attacks in Germany in the spirit of IS,” the federal prosecutor said.
“Unfortunately, we can also see from this that there are black sheep among the enormous number of people seeking protection who are fleeing war and looking for care with us,” said Reul. The accused from North Rhine-Westphalia are all classified as dangerous or as “relevant persons”.
Raids in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and the Netherlands started in the early hours of the morning. In NRW alone, 15 properties were searched: in Bielefeld, Bornheim, Düsseldorf, Ennepetal, Gelsenkirchen, Gladbeck, Kamen, Lippstadt, Warendorf and Witten.
members of an IS affiliate
Reul reported that the suspects traveled back and forth between Germany and the Netherlands on a regular basis. They are members of the IS offshoot “Islamic State Khorasan Province” (ISPK).
According to the findings of the Attorney General, possible targets of attacks in Germany have already been targeted and possible crime scenes have been scouted out. In addition, the accused had tried to procure weapons. However, there has not yet been a concrete attack plan. Six of the suspects arrested in Germany have been collecting money for IS since April 2022 and transferring it abroad.
Reul said he did not know of any list of attack targets and could not say whether weapons were found during the searches. One thing is clear: “The supporters of the Islamic State apparently believe that they can go about their day-to-day terrorist work here without being bothered: reconnaissance, looking for targets, procuring weapons and money – all in secret.”
NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst stated that this calculation did not work out. “Our security authorities are vigilant and have once again proven today that we are well positioned in the fight against international terrorism,” he told the German Press Agency in Düsseldorf. He thanked all emergency services for the successful cross-border cooperation. “For us, the following applies: zero tolerance for terrorism, zero tolerance for violence, zero tolerance for anti-democratic attitudes,” affirmed the CDU politician.
Counted more than 4000 Islamists in NRW in 2022
As Reul reported, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution counted 4,070 Islamists in North Rhine-Westphalia alone last year – a decrease of almost 12 percent compared to the previous year. The number of violent Islamists has fallen from 780 to 600 people. “As today’s searches and arrests show, this decline in numbers is no reason to give the all-clear,” he emphasized.
According to him, more than 200 federal and state police forces were involved in the operation – around 90 of them from North Rhine-Westphalia. The special unit GSG9, the federal aviation squadron, state security and several other units were also involved. In addition, the European Union agency for judicial cooperation in criminal matters, EUROJUST, is involved.
Four of those arrested were remanded in custody on Thursday, as a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor said in the evening. Three other suspects are to be brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe this Friday. The couple from the Netherlands should also appear before the examining magistrate in Rotterdam on Friday.