Three arrests after police action against religious extremist propaganda in Germany
europol.europa.eu – On 28 June 2022, the German Regional Police (Landeskriminalamt) struck against the so-called ‘Caliphate State’ religious extremist organisation. During the action day, coordinated by the Landeskriminalamt Rhineland-Palatinate, German law enforcement officers from six German States raided 50 locations in a joint operation and arrested three individuals. The arrested individuals are suspected members of ‘Caliphate State’, which is a banned organisation in Germany. During the house searches, officers seized three firearms, propaganda material, and more than EUR 270 000. Investigators are currently working on identifying international links.
Germany made membership of this organisation illegal in 2001. The prohibition order states that the ideology of the ‘Caliphate State’ violates the principle of democracy since it demands the primacy of the Sharia law over democratic institutions. At that time, the so-called ‘Caliphate State’ organisation had about 4 000 members. The members of this well-structured illegal network, which is widely spread across Germany, focus on radicalisation and collection of funds. One of the prominent figures, son of the founder of the organisation, has been arrested in Germany and extradited to Turkey in 2004, where he was jailed until 2016.
Europol facilitated the information exchange and supported the case with operational analysis. During the action day, Europol provided support by deploying an expert to Germany to crosscheck operational information against Europol’s databases and provide links to investigators in the field.
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