Germany arrests Moroccan suspected of IS ties
December 21, 2016Police arrested the suspected member of the "Islamic State" (IS) militia, Redouane S., in the northwest state of Lower Saxony on Tuesday.
German prosecutors claim that the Moroccan was linked with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the instigator of terror strikes that killed some 130 people in Paris in November 2015. The Belgian national was gunned down in the shootout with the Paris police days after the attack.
The group allegedly tasked Redouane S. to rent apartments in Turkey and Greece while the Paris attacks were planned. Members of the terror cell used the locations as hideouts "for the preparation of attacks."
No Berlin link
The officials also claim that the Moroccan knew about Abaaoud and other group members meeting in the Belgian town of Verviers to plan more attacks. The cell was dismantled in a deadly raid in January 2015. Redouane lived in Belgium at the time.
"Even after his coming to Germany in May 2015 he was in contact with the group led by Abaaoud and showed readiness to take more orders," the prosecutors said in a statement.
The news of his arrest comes as German security forces pursue a nationwide manhunt for the perpetrators of the Berlin terror strike on Monday. However, the officials say that the 24-year-old is not linked with the latest deadly incident.
dj/rc (Reuters, dpa, AP, AFP)