Three Suspected ISIS Fighters Detained in Germany The three men, all Syrians, are believed to be the first group of foreign fighters taken into custody By Andrea Thomas
http://www.wsj.com/articles/three-suspected-isis-fighters-detained-in-germany-1473761295
—German police detained three Syrians believed to be members of Islamic State who traveled to Germany last November, possibly to carry out an attack, officials said Tuesday, in what is believed to be the first arrests of a group of foreign fighters sent to the country by the Sunni Muslim extremist group.
More than 200 police officers carried out raids on homes of refugees in the states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein early Tuesday after receiving a tip from other asylum seekers, officials for the Federal Criminal Police Office and General Prosecutor said.
Three men—ages 17, 18 and 26—were arrested and documents seized, the prosecutor said. Identification of criminal suspects is barred under German law.
“The three accused are strongly suspected of having traveled to Germany in November 2015 on behalf of terror group Islamic State to execute an existing order or to be on standby for instructions,” said the prosecutor said.
The arrest is more bad news for Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose standing in opinion polls has dropped since she opened the country’s doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees last year.
Surveys show a majority of Germans are concerned about the influx and about potential attackers among the migrants.
Two attacks committed by refugees and claimed by Islamic State rattled the country this summer. Several of the attackers in last November’s deadly assaults in Paris are also known to have traveled to Europe while posing as refugees.
The prosecutor said the three men detained Tuesday were sent to Germany via Turkey and Greece by an Islamic State official responsible for foreign operations. The men were under orders to carry out an attack or await instructions, he said, adding that no specific details of a plan had been found.
The men are believed to have received passports and cash, as well as mobile phones with a preinstalled communication program, according to the prosecutor.
The raids come as recent terror attacks in Paris and Brussels showed that Islamic State was planting fighters into the stream of migrants flowing to Europe, a spokeswoman for the Federal Criminal Police Office said. CONTINUE AT SITE
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