More than 100 police officers searched the rooms of alleged IS supporters in six Hessian cities. The charge: financing terrorism and preparing an attack.
Raid against alleged supporters of the terrorist Islamic State (IS): On Wednesday morning, officials from the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) and the police searched numerous buildings in Hesse, as the LKA announced. The investigators targeted the rooms of a total of 13 suspects from Dietzhölztal, Haiger, Eschenburg (all Lahn-Dill), Darmstadt, Kassel and Lollar (Gießen).
The Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office played a leading role. Officials from all Hessian police headquarters were on duty with the exception of Frankfurt – a total of a low three-digit number, as the LKA announced. They confiscated numerous pieces of evidence, including cash and data carriers, which are now being evaluated.
Donations for the IS and preparation of the attack
According to the Frankfurt Chief Public Prosecutor Nadja Niesen, the accusation weighs heavily: It is about terrorist financing and the preparation of a serious criminal offense that is dangerous to the state, she told the HR. There was no information on how far possible attack plans had progressed. According to the LKA, there was no specific threat.
Accordingly, there were ten search warrants against two women and eight men between the ages of 20 and 51 with German, Afghan, Kosovar and Turkish citizenship. Four of them are said to have transferred donations to IS in Syria. According to the criteria of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, IS is a terrorist organization abroad. The allegations against the remaining accused were not explained in detail.
In the case of the other three accused, the searches were based on investigations by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. One of the accused was in Switzerland on Wednesday, where the Swiss police carried out the searches.
End of further information