{"id":247860,"date":"2016-09-13T14:12:04","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T14:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=247860"},"modified":"2016-09-13T14:12:04","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T14:12:04","slug":"germany-arrests-three-on-is-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/09\/germany-arrests-three-on-is-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany arrests three ‘on IS mission’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Three Syrian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of being sent by so-called Islamic State (IS) to launch attacks, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n
The men – aged between 17 and 26 – were detained after a series of pre-dawn raids in the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Later, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told journalists the suspects may have had links to the men who attacked Paris in November last year.<\/p>\n
He called the three a sleeper cell.<\/p>\n
The Federal Public Prosecutor’s office has said no concrete missions or orders have so far been found, despite the seizure of “extensive material”.<\/p>\n
The men – identified only as Mahir al-H, 17, Ibrahim M, 18, and Mohamed A, 26 – are said to have travelled through Turkey and Greece on false passports.<\/p>\n
Investigators believe they had volunteered for the alleged mission, and that the 17-year-old had been trained in handling weapons and explosives in Raqqa, IS’s stronghold in Syria.<\/p>\n
They received fake passports, mobile phones loaded with a pre-installed communication programme and four-figure cash sums in US dollars.<\/p>\n
Spate of attacks<\/strong><\/p>\n The men were arrested when 200 police and security officers raided six locations, including three refugee shelters.<\/p>\n Investigations so far suggest the three came to Germany in November 2015 with the intention of “carrying out a previously determined order [from IS] or to await further instructions”, prosecutors said in a statement.<\/p>\n Suspicions of the men were first raised months ago, and the men had been under surveillance including phone-tapping for weeks, reported the German news agency DPA.<\/p>\n