German police arrest three Syrian men thought to be planning to carry out terror attacks
Germany’s police force has arrested three Syrian men aged 17-18, thought to have been sent to Europe by ISIS to carry out terror attacks. The suspects carried fake documents that matched those from the terrorists who attacked Paris in November 2015. A total of 200 officers were involved in their detainment in Schleswig-Holstein in the early hours of 13 September, which involved the search of refugee centres. The individuals arrived in Germany in November of last year and were paid four-figure sums by Isis, though solid plans for terrorist missions have yet to be discovered.

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German police have arrested three Syrian men suspected of being deployed by Isis to carry out new terror attacks in Europe.

Prosecutors said the three suspects were dispatched to Germany last year “either to carry out a mission that they had been informed about or to wait for further instructions”.

They were named as Mahir al-H, 17, Ibrahim M, 18, and Mohamed A, 18, with their surnames redacted according to German privacy laws.

“Concrete missions or orders have not yet been found in the course of investigations carried out so far,” a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor said.

Thomas de Maiziere, the German interior minister, said the men could be part of a “sleeper cell” linked to the terrorists who carried out the Paris attacks that killed 130 people in November.

“Everything points to the same smuggling organisation as with the Paris attackers having brought these three who were arrested to Germany,” he added.

“And everything points to the travel documents having come from the same workshop.”

The arrests were made during a series of dawn raids involving 200 officers, with police searching refugee centres in Großhansdorf, Ahrensburg and Reinfeld in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Show all 9 1 / 9 Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Policemen outside Rouen's cathedral during the funeral of Jacques Hamel, the priest who was killed in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy on 26 July during a hostage-taking claimed by Islamic State group Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two jihadists, both 19, slit Hamel's throat while he was celebrating mass in an attack that shocked France as well as the Catholic Church Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Muslims place flowers and hold a minute of silence in front of the church if Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, where French priest Jacques Hamel was killed on 26 July Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two people hold each other by the new makeshift memorial in Nice, in tribute to the victims of the deadly Bastille Day attack at the Promenade des Anglais Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the truck attack that killed 84 people in Nice on France's national holiday. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, smashed a 19-tonne truck into a packed crowd of people in the Riviera city celebrating Bastille Day Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police work at a site where a Syrian migrant set off an explosive device in Ansbach, southern Germany, on 25 July, killing himself and wounding a dozen others Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis A Syrian migrant set off an explosion at a bar in southern Germany that killed himself and wounded a dozen others in the third attack to hit Bavaria in a week. The 27-year-old, who had spent a stint in a psychiatric facility, had intended to target a music festival in the city of Ansbach but was turned away because he did not have a ticket Friebe/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police officers walk along train tracks in Wuerzburg southern Germany on 19 July, a day after a man attacked train passengers with an axe. German authorities said they had found a hand-painted IS flag among the belongings of the man, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who seriously injured four members of a family of tourists from Hong Kong in his rampage Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis German police killed a teenage assailant after he attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzburg, southerg Germany with an axe and a knife on 18 July, seriously wounding three people Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images

Investigators said the 17-year-old suspect had been trained to use guns and handle explosives in Isis’ de-facto capital of Raqqa before crossing into Europe on the refugee route from Turkey to Greece.

The trio, carrying false passports, left Syria in October 2015 – around the same time as at least two of the Paris suicide bombers who crossed to the island of Leros.

They reached Germany in November and have received four-figure payments in US dollars from Isis, as well as mobile phones with pre-installed communication apps.

More than a million refugees and asylum seekers arrived in Germany last year, when Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the border to all Syrians fleeing the country’s civil war.

Germany has been targeted in a spate of recent attacks, including three carried out by asylum seekers, of which two were claimed by Isis.

Timeline: Germany rocked by week of deadly violence

Several terror suspects posing as Syrian refugees have been arrested in German counter-terror operations so far this year, although no convictions have been announced.

Harry Sarfo, a former Isis recruit, told The Independent he was approached by commanders looking for militants to carry out attacks in the UK and Germany while living in Raqqa last year.

He said he declined and later fled the group, but there are fears it has continued to exploit the refugee route to send back trained jihadists.

Europol estimates that up to 5,000 Europeans may have undergone training at terror camps abroad and the agency’s director has warned the continent faces its “biggest terror threat in more than a decade” from returning fighters.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office has received 400 tip-offs over migrants alleged to have extremist links but found only 60 with sufficient evidence to begin investigations.