1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections
Terrorism

Germany arrests Moroccan suspected of IS ties

December 21, 2016

German authorities have charged a 24-year-old Moroccan of being part of a network that planned Paris attacks last year. The man was allegedly responsible for looking after the group's safe houses in Greece and Turkey.

https://p.dw.com/p/2Uggi
Razzia gegen Islamisten
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken

Police 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)