Suspected 'Islamic State' militant arrested near Leipzig
May 5, 2017
German officials have detained a 29-year-old Syrian national who allegedly pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization in 2013. The suspect fought in Syria for several years.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Becker
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Police in the eastern German state of Saxony arrested Ahmad A. on Thursday night in Leipzig, the Federal Public Prosecutor's office announced.
The arrest was made according to a warrant issued on May 3 by the investigating magistrate in the Federal Court of Justice, Germany's highest criminal court, the prosecutor's office said in a statement shared over its Twitter account.
Authorities also searched Ahmad A.'s house at the time of arrest. The raid lasted from Thursday afternoon until the evening.
According to information obtained by German news agency dpa, there was no immediate terrorist threat.
Ahmad A. was arrested in Leipzig, a city in the east German state of Saxony.
First al-Nusra, then the Islamic State
Prosecutors suspect the man of having fought for radical Islamist terror organizations in Syria.
According to the statement, Ahmad A. fought on behalf of the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's ostensible former Syrian branch, rising to become his unit's "emir" in the Raqqa region. He also allegedly participated in the conquest of two Syrian towns: Dibsi Afnan in November 2012 and al-Tabqa in February 2013.
After clashes between the Nusra Front and the so-called Islamic State (IS) in early 2013, Ahmad switched his allegiance.
No details have yet been provided as to how Ahmad A. came to be in Germany.
The suspect will appear before the investigating magistrate on Friday afternoon, who will rule on pre-trial detention.
Germany's biggest Islamist trials
The attempted bomb attack at the Bonn train station in 2012 led to one of the highest-profile terror trials in Germany. Here's a look at some other major trials involving Islamist extremists in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
Failed Bonn bomb
The blue bag left on the platform at Bonn's central station in 2012 contained explosives that did not go off, but a city-wide manhunt unfolded. Marco G. was eventually arrested and charged with planting the bomb. Three others are charged with plotting to assassinate a politician from the far-right PRO-NRW party. Their group allegedly drew inspration from an Islamist movement in Uzbekistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Frankfurt airport bus attack
In March 2011, Arid Uka shot dead two US servicemen waiting for a bus at Frankfurt airport prior to deployment in Afghanistan. "This is indeed the first Islamic-motivated terror strike to have happened in Germany," the judge said, adding Uka had sought revenge for military operations in Afghanistan. Uka, born in Kosovo, acted alone and was sentenced to life in prison in February 2012.
Image: AP
The Sauerland Cell
The "Sauerland Cell" was a German cell of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a terrorist group on the Pakistani-Afghan border. The four German and Turkish men had planned large-scale bomb attacks against American targets in Germany from their base in the western region of the Sauerland. Arrested in September 2007, they were sentenced in March 2010 for up to 12 years.
Image: AP
Sharia Police
Sven Lau, a Salafist Muslim, was the man behind a well-known Islamist publicity stunt. In 2014, Lau led several men around the city of Wuppertal in orange security vests labeled "Sharia police." Acting as state authorities, they warned people visiting local clubs and bars to adhere to Sharia, or Islamic law. He is currently on trial for backing a terror group fighting in Syria.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bildfunk/M. Becker
Big mouth
Nils D., a Salafist from Dinslaken, joined the "Islamic State" in Syria in October 2013. He tracked down the group's deserters - armed with explosives and guns. He returned to Germany a year later, and boastful statements about his time in Syria eventually got him arrested. He confessed the names of other German Islamic extremists and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.
Image: DW/M. Gopalakrishnan
"Biggest mistake of my life"
On the final day of Harry S.'s July 2016 trial, he said "going to Syria was the biggest mistake of my life." The Bremen-born Muslim convert spent three months with "Islamic State" in Syria in 2015. He wanted out after civilians were murdered for a short recruitment film he helped make. He was sentenced to three years in jail for being part of a foreign terrorist organization.
