Germany and Swiss authorities have carried out a joint operation to detain four people who are accused of membership in or support of the Islamic State group, officials said Tuesday. One man was detained in Germany on Monday.
He is accused of having prepared a serious act of violence endangering the state and of membership in a foreign terrorist organisation, the country's federal prosecutor said in a statement.
In Switzerland, the authorities detained three people, also on Monday, and carried out seven searches altogether, the country's federal prosecutor's office said.
Germany's federal prosecutor's office said the German suspect, identified only as Aleem N., had “long been a follower of jihadist and radical Islamic ideas.” He was detained in Roemerberg, southwest of Heidelberg.
In mid-September 2020, he travelled from Germany to Turkey in order to continue from there to Syria.
In Syria, the defendant wanted to join the Islamic State, or IS, to receive military training and then participate in combat operations or terrorist attacks. However, this did not happen, and instead, the defendant returned to Germany at the end of October 2020, the statement said.