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| Europe |
| Dozen suspected sites raided in Germany |
| 2015-01-21 |
| [ARABNEWS] Some 200 German police raided over a dozen suspected premises Tuesday, seeking evidence against two men arrested last week for allegedly backing jihadist violence in Syria. No one was detained Tuesday but police said they were searching for documents, computer hard drives and other potential evidence in the 13 locations, mostly apartments, in Berlin, the neighboring city of Potsdam and the eastern state of Thuringia. The sweeping pre-dawn raids targeted the homes of members of the Quranic school of one of the men arrested Friday, Turkish-born Ismet D., 41, dubbed by media the Emir of Moabitafter the Berlin district where the school is located. The man, whose surname was not released under German privacy rules, is suspected of leading an extremist groupmade up of Turkish and Russian nationals from the Caucasus regions of Chechnya and Dagestan, police said last week. There was no suggestion the two men or their supporters had planned any attacks against targets within Germany, said Berlin police spokesman Stefan Redlich. But we allege that they are supporting extremists in Syria,he told private news channel NTV. We see a danger when people travel there, join the fighting, undergo military training and experience violence. We have to worry about these people when they return. Asked whether police had been more active against Islamists since the Paris jihadist attacks, he said: The investigation against this group has been running for over a year. We have long acted with great determination against groups who send people into these war zones.... We would have conducted the raids either way. Another police spokesman Michael Gassen said the raids were mostly on close associates of the pair. We were looking for further evidence in connection with last week's arrests,Gassen said, adding that the people targeted Tuesday were not accused of any wrongdoing themselves. Most were members of the same mosque in Berlin's Moabit neighborhood as the two suspects. |
| Posted by:Fred |