German police arrest suspected Islamists in raid

German police on Thursday raided 15 homes searching for suspected Islamic extremists in the states of Hesse und North Rhine-Westphalia.

More than 200 police were involved in the operation targeting 12 suspects. Two people, a married couple, were arrested.

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Investigators accuse the suspects, aged 22 to 30, of preparing for and aiding an act of subversive violence.  They are suspected of helping people to travel to Syria through Turkey to join Islamic terrorist groups.

Money, knives and documents were seized in the raids.

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The two people arrested, both age 26, are alleged to have attempted to travel with their two children in November 2016 to areas controlled by the Islamic State. They were arrested on the Turkish-Syrian border and deported to Germany.

Authorities said there were no plans for an imminent terror attack in Germany.

cw/rt (AFP, dpa)

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