Germany: 11 arrested in raid on suspected extremist plotters

BERLIN – German authorities arrested 11 people Friday during a series of raids on a group of people suspected of planning an Islamic extremist attack using a vehicle and firearms.

Frankfurt prosecutors said the aim of the alleged plot was “to kill as many ‘infidels’ as possible,” news agency dpa reported.

The main suspects are two 31-year-old brothers from Wiesbaden and a 21-year-old man from Offenbach, near Frankfurt, all of them German citizens. The group under investigation — aged between 20 and 42, and from Frankfurt, Offenbach, Mainz and Wiesbaden — is suspected of offences including terror financing and conspiracy to commit a crime.

It wasn’t immediately clear how concrete the attack plan was.

Hesse state’s interior minister, Peter Beuth, said “police intervened in a timely manner to prevent possible attack plans at an early stage.”

The suspects are believed to have hired a large vehicle, contacted weapons dealers and collected money.

Investigators seized more than 20,000 euros ($22,780) in cash, several knives, small quantities of drugs and documents in the raids in the area around Frankfurt.