Three suspected members of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) have been taken into custody at the request of the federal prosecutor. According to a report on Thursday, a man is said to have taken part in IS combat operations since he was 14 and later led a group of young people in a de-radicalization facility, who harassed fellow inmates and alleged unbelievers with physical violence, among other things.
His mother took the eleven-year-old to Syria in June 2013, joined IS with her partner and raised the child in line with IS ideology.
The federal prosecutor's office accuses a woman, among other things, of having provided driving services for an IS women's battalion and having manufactured explosive belts. In autumn 2016, IS members wanted to recruit and smuggle in fighters for a terrorist attack on a German music festival. "It didn't come to that in the end," said the authority in Karlsruhe. However, before the operation was terminated, the accused had chosen two "sisters" who should have married and accommodated the assassins in the Federal Republic in order to enable them to lead an inconspicuous life until the attack.
Another arrested person is said to have tried from Syria to persuade other women in Germany to leave for the IS. At one point she owned an automatic rifle and a shotgun. After the woman surrendered in 2019 and was housed in a Kurdish camp, she cheered on another inmate there when she abused an alleged "apostate".
Return campaigns by the federal government probably completed
The three Germans were flown to Frankfurt am Main on Wednesday evening as part of a return campaign by the federal government from the Roj prison camp in north-eastern Syria. Officials from the Federal Police and the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested the suspects while they were still at the airport.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) announced on Wednesday evening that a total of four women, seven children and a young man had been brought back. According to Baerbock, almost all known cases have now been closed with the new campaign. In six repatriations, a total of 26 women, 76 children and one adolescent were brought to Germany from north-east Syria. The Foreign Minister was relieved that the children could return to Germany. She is not to blame for the "fatal life decisions of her parents". They are victims of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).
According to the Federal Foreign Office, children can only be brought back with the consent and simultaneous return of the mothers. There is currently only one case in which approval has been given, but the retrieval has not yet been implemented. In other cases, the mothers did not want a repatriation at the moment.
