5 Daesh suspects arrested in Germany after being accused of recruiting, tracking members of terrorist network

BERLIN— German authorities arrested five men Tuesday on allegations they aided Daesh in Germany by recruiting members and providing financial 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 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.”

The prosecutor’s office said the suspects weren’t known to have links to Daesh suspect Jaber Albakr, who killed himself in prison in October after being arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack a Berlin airport.

One of the suspects, a 32-year-old Iraqi citizen identified as Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A., who also goes by the alias of Abu Walaa, is accused of being the ringleader of the group. He openly supported the Daesh group, attended several extremist events as a speaker and approved the departure of those willing to go to Syria, prosecutors said.

His last name wasn’t provided in line with German privacy laws.

Two other suspects, identified as 50-year-old Turkish citizen Hasan C. and 36-year-old German-Serbian citizen Boban S., were in charge of teaching Arabic and “radical Islamic content” to recruits.

“The network verifiably trafficked one young man and his family to the ‘IS’ (Daesh) in Syria,” the statement said.