Two men arrested in Berlin on suspicion of recruiting fighters for Isis in Syria
More than 200 police searched 11 properties in a German anti-terror sweep
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Your support makes all the difference.Two Turkish men accused of recruiting and radicalising fighters to join Isis in Syria have been arrested in Berlin.
About 250 police officers and special forces commandos searched 11 properties and a mosque association in the German capital in the early hours of this morning in co-ordinated anti-terror raids.
There was no indication that the group was planning attacks in Germany, officials said.
A spokesperson for Berlin’s police force said the raids were planned after months of investigation and had not been sparked by last week’s attacks in France.
“The accused have been on the violent Salafist spectrum for years and follow an ideology close to that recognised by terrorist organisations like Isis and Chechen groups fighting in Syria,” he added.
Two Turkish nationals named as Ismet D, 41, and Emin F, 43, were arrested on suspicion of supporting anti-government violence in Syria and money laundering.
Ismet D is accused of leading a group of Islamic extremists as their self-appointed “Emir”. The group, which meets in the famous Berlin Tiergarten, is made up mainly of Turkish origin men and Russian nationals of Chechen and Dagestani origin, police said.
Ismet D is suspected of radicalising members with his teachings and preparing them to wage war against “infidels” in the Syrian conflict. Emin F was named by police as the group’s finance director and the pair are accused of giving members of their group practical and financial support to travel to Syria.
“Considerable amounts of money” were being used, police said, including for the purchase of high quality military equipment including night vision goggles.
Among those allegedly recruited was Murat S, a 40-year-old Turkish man who was arrested after his return from Syria to Germany in September.
Four other nationals aged between 31 and 44 were investigated as part of the sweep but police said they could not be arrested because of insufficient evidence.
In an unrelated raid, police in Wolfsburg, about 120 miles west of Berlin, took a 26-year-old German-Tunisian dual national into custody on Thursday on suspicion he had fought in Syria for Isis in 2014.
Federal prosecutors said there was no evidence the suspect Ayub B, who was due to appear in court on Friday, was planning terror attacks in Germany.
The raids came hours after two men were shot dead in Belgium after police received intelligence about jihadists returning from Syria preparing to launch an "imminent" terror attack.
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