Massive Special Op against Extremists in 60 German Cities

Local Editor

German police carried out a large-scale operation targeting Extremists across ten German federal states, the country's Interior Ministry [Bundesministeriums des Innern] reported on Tuesday. The raids took place in 60 cities, including capital Berlin.

According to the German media, police searched offices and mosques believed to have links to the extremist missionary network "The True Religion," which is known to have been distributing free Korans at info stands throughout Germany.

Germany's Interior Ministry banned the organization on Tuesday morning. A spokeswoman for the ministry said that authorities believe the group has acted in violation of Germany's constitution and incited hatred.

The media states that the group advocates armed "jihad" and supports terrorist organizations, citing law enforcement authorities.

Authorities believe over 500 people to be part of the group, which has some 60 local initiatives throughout the country. The investigators are reportedly after the group's founder, Abou-Nagie, an extremist hate preacher of Pakistani origin who lives in Cologne. His home in Cologne has been searched.

In total, some 190 mosques, offices, and apartments associated with the group had reportedly been searched in 10 federal states.

The raids were carried out in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Hamburg. The operation is also being carried out in the capital, Berlin, where some 50 apartments and offices had been searched.

In total, police raided the network's premises in 60 German cities, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere said at a press conference that followed the operation.

However, no reports of arrests had been made yet.

The group is widely known for its ‘Lies!' [read] initiative, which distributes free copies of the Koran while calling on Germans to "read the noble" book.

This morning, apparently in response to the police operation, they wrote a post declaring that "Germany has banned the Koran."

The ‘Lies!' activists had reportedly distributed around 3.5 million copies of the Koran in Germany so far. Authorities in some German cities banned their actions, but activists had often ignored them, and distributed the books from backpacks and bags in response.

Numerous young Muslims had been radicalized during the Koran distribution campaigns, Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere told reporters. At least 140 ‘Lies!' activists and supporters had already moved to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the militants, he said. Some terror suspects in Essen, who participated in a bomb attack on a Sikh temple in April, were previously known as ‘Lies!' activists, according to Die Welt.

Germany has been on high terror alert in recent months. In July of this year, the country suffered three lone-wolf assaults. In all cases, the perpetrators had either direct links to Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] terror group or were inspired by radicalism.

De Maiziere warned back in September that there were more people in Germany capable of committing terrorist acts than ever before. According to the minister's data, more than 520 people are could potentially commit "unexpected" and "high-profile" terrorist attacks inspired by extremism.

Anti-terror raids had been carried out across the country on several occasions, in which a number of suspected radicals had been detained. In October, German police conducted several raids in five federal states in response to an "imminent terror threat."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team