5 Islamic State suspects arrested in Germany

BERLIN, Nov 9: German authorities arrested five men on Tuesday on allegations they aided the Islamic State group in Germany by recruiting members and providing fincial and logistical help. The federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the men were arrested on suspicion of supporting a terrorist organization. The arrests were made in a series of raids in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the northern state of Lower Saxony.

The country’s justice minister, Heiko Maas, called the arrests “an important blow to the extremist scene in Germany. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said it was critical to prevent people from becoming “so radicalized that they are in danger of becoming terrorists.”

“We don’t want terrorism to take place in Germany,’’ he said. ''We don’t want terrorism to be exported from Germany.’’ One of the raids was in the Lower Saxony city of Hildesheim, which is a known center for ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafists and where a mosque was raided during the summer.

The prosecutor’s office, which handles all terrorism cases, said the suspects weren’t known to have links to IS suspect Jaber Albakr, who killed himself in prison in October two days after being arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack a Berlin airport with homemade explosives.

The five men are suspected of recruiting young Muslims in Germany, and raising funds to send them to Syria to join IS, prosecutors said. They’re also accused of providing logistical support for the trips. (Agencies)