Massive German anti-militant raid
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The flat of Kaplan, the "Caliph of Cologne," was one of those raided.
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BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Over 5,500 German police took part in the country's biggest ever raid against militant Islamists in a nationwide crackdown on alleged members of a banned extremist organization.
The swoop Thursday, in 13 of Germany's 16 states, centered on over a thousand suspected members of the Cologne-based group known as the Kalifatstaat (Caliphate State), which the government outlawed in 2001 as unconstitutional and a threat to democracy.
The Kalifatstaat was the first group outlawed after the government introduced tighter controls over Islamist organizations after learning that several of the September 11 aircraft hijackers had lived in Germany.
In October, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by the group to have the ban overturned.
The Federal Crime Agency (BKA) said the suspects targeted were subscribers to the group's newspaper, "Beklenen Asr-I Saadet," and that an unspecified number of arrests had been made.
"Weapons, propaganda material, computers and mobile phones have been confiscated," a BKA spokesman told Reuters. "There have also been a number of arrests."
Interior Minister Otto Schily said the searches reaffirmed the government's commitment to clamping down on militant Islam.
"This nationwide move makes it unmistakably clear to the members who had reorganized and who continue to propagate the unconstitutional aims of this group that any infringement of the ban will be pursued with the full force of the law," he said.
Schily said the raid had thwarted the Kalifatstaat's attempts to regroup since the ban. "Today's searches have successfully put a stop to outlawed activities which ensued."
The swoop focused on the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Wuerttemberg, where some 660 premises were raided. The regional crime squad in North Rhine-Westphalia reported the move had been planned for a year and a half.
Federal prosecutor Kay Nehm also said he was investigating four members of the Kalifatstaat on suspicion of planning attacks and creating a terrorist organization.
Nehm also ordered a search of the premises of the group's leader, Metin Kaplan, known as the "Caliph of Cologne," on the grounds he was continuing to direct the Kalifatstaat.
Kaplan's lawyer rejected the allegation on German television Thursday.
Kaplan served four years in a German jail for calling for the murder of a rival religious leader. He was released in May.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
