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ISIS Using Migrant Crisis to Smuggle In Terrorists, German Official Says Terrorism Suspects Are Posing as Refugees, Germany Says
(about 5 hours later)
BERLIN — The Islamic State is using the influx of migrants into Europe to smuggle in terrorists “camouflaged as refugees,” the chief of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, said on Friday, after the arrest of a 35-year-old Algerian man. BERLIN — An Algerian couple, suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Berlin and arrested on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State, entered Germany late last year and applied for asylum as Syrian refugees — part of a pattern of terrorism suspects entering Europe under the guise of fleeing war, the German authorities said Friday.
The man, who was said to have trained with the Islamic State in Syria and is suspected of planning an attack in Germany, crossed into the country via Bavaria at the height of the refugee inflow in the fall. He was detained early Thursday with a woman described in news reports as his wife, at a shelter for asylum applicants in North Rhine-Westphalia. The police in Berlin published a photo they said was of the husband, showing a bearded man with his face blacked out, pointing a pistol at the camera, with two Kalashnikov rifles propped up beside him on a sofa strewn with other weapons. The photo was believed to have been taken in Syria, where German media reports said the man had received terrorist training with the Islamic State.
The comments by the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, Hans-Georg Maassen, reflected a concern that has been intensifying since it was revealed that some of the suspects in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks had entered Europe by disguising themselves as migrants. The raids on Thursday were part of a broader police operation intended to prevent a terrorist attack. The man, not named by police but identified by the media as Farid A., 34, and his wife, 27, had been sought on an international warrant initiated by the Algerian authorities. They were under surveillance at their refugee shelter in the town of Attendorn, about an hour’s drive northeast of Cologne, and were arrested in coordinated raids in three states on Thursday. They were suspected of plotting an attack in Berlin, the police said Friday in a statement.
More than one million migrants arrived in Germany last year, many of them Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians fleeing war and persecution. But the initially warm welcome soured after the attacks in France, and hundreds of assaults and robberies during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne that were attributed to young men of Arab or North African background, further heightened fears over the consequences of the migrant influx. As many as one million asylum seekers entered Germany last year. An initial warm welcome, particularly for Syrians, soured after the terrorist attacks in and around Paris in November, which killed 130 people, and the police found documents suggesting that some assailants had entered Europe posing as refugees.
Mr. Maassen said the raids and detention of the Algerian couple, and of a third Algerian, a man, age 49, in Berlin came after investigators determined that “there are people in Germany who are pursuing plans to carry out attacks, but there was no concrete indication of an imminent terrorist crime.” Hundreds of assaults and robberies during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne, attributed to young men of Arab or North African backgrounds, further heightened fears over the consequences of the migrant influx.
Mr. Maassen, speaking on the public television station ZDF, declined to say whether Berlin was the possible target of an attack, as reported in the German news media. On Friday, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maassen, said the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, was using the wave of newcomers to infiltrate Europe.
Asked whether the arrest of the Algerian couple at a refugee shelter showed that terrorists were being smuggled into Europe in the migrant wave, Mr. Maassen confirmed that was the case. The authorities in Europe have “seen repeatedly that terrorists are being smuggled in, camouflaged as refugees,” Mr. Maassen said on ZDF public television. “That is a fact that security authorities must always seek to recognize and identify.”
In the Paris attacks, “We saw that the Islamic State consciously slips terrorists into the immigration wave, and has done so,” Mr. Maassen said, referring to the group also known as ISIS or ISIL. The Berlin police said on Friday that they had first received a tip in December from Mr. Maassen’s agency, the Office for Protection of the Constitution, that a terrorist plot might be brewing. On Jan. 10, the agency gave an unspecified concrete tip that involved suspected supporters of ISIS possibly involved in planning an attack in Berlin, a police statement said.
The authorities in Europe have “seen repeatedly that terrorists are being smuggled in, camouflaged as refugees,” he said. “That is a fact that security authorities must always seek to recognize and identify.” The tip “was taken very seriously” and intensive surveillance began, the police said. “That procedure established that the affected persons were behaving very noticeably and in a conspirative way.”
One raid on Thursday was carried out at another asylum shelter, in Hanover, where the police were said to have sought a 26-year-old Algerian, but it was not clear whether he had been detained. Considering the danger of a possible attack, the police weighed the chances that the suspects would detect the surveillance against the prospect of obtaining more information and decided to go “into the open,” the statement said. About 300 of the 450 police officers involved in Thursday’s raids were deployed in Berlin, where four homes and two businesses were searched. The other raids were in Attendorn and in Hanover.
Mr. Maassen said there were international arrest warrants for at least some of those detained on Thursday because they were believed to have had contacts with a terrorist organization, but he did not elaborate. In Berlin, the police arrested a 49-year-old Algerian man who they said had lived in the German capital since 2000 under various identities. He left Germany in 2013 and returned a year later with fake French identity papers, the police statement said. He had been sought on charges of falsifying documents, and remained in custody on Friday, as did the Algerian couple.
The police said they had so far not found any evidence of a concrete target in Berlin for a terrorist attack. No weapons or explosives were found in Thursday’s raids, but the police said they had seized a large number of computers, documents and mobile phones.
Another 30-year-old man was investigated in Berlin and a 25-year-old man at a refugee shelter in Hanover, the police said, but they were not detained. Both were also Algerian citizens.
The 30-year-old came to Germany in spring 2004 and currently had a valid residence permit, the police statement said. It said without further detail that the 25-year-old had had “proven contact” with Belgium, where several of the Paris terrorist assailants also had ties. German media, citing unidentified security sources, said the younger man had recently visited Molenbeek, the suburb of Brussels where several Paris assailants lived or visited.
The police statement said that all five people connected with Thursday’s raids had been offered to be formally questioned, “and this offer was partly accepted,” suggesting that one or more of those held might give more information about the alleged plan for an attack.
Asked how much Germany should fear a terrorist attack, Mr. Maassen suggested that was the wrong question.Asked how much Germany should fear a terrorist attack, Mr. Maassen suggested that was the wrong question.
“The expression ‘fear’ is the wrong one here,” he said. “We are in a situation which is serious, and we have a high risk that there can be a terrorist attack.”“The expression ‘fear’ is the wrong one here,” he said. “We are in a situation which is serious, and we have a high risk that there can be a terrorist attack.”
But, he added, security services and the police were on high alert. “Our goal is to minimize the risk,” he said. But, he added, security services and the police are on high alert. “Our goal is to minimize the risk,” he said.