German police recently raided a Mosque and eight separate apartments in Hildesheim, Germany that were believed to be a “hotbed” of radical Salafist activity. Salafists are an ultra-conservative sect of Sunni Muslims known for supporting and carrying out Jihad against Western culture and Americans. According to Interior Minister Boris Pistorius up to 400 police, including mobile and special forces units, were involved in the raids. Pistorius claims that the German governement has been monitoring the community for “a long time” and stated that this community has radicalized Muslims and encouraged them to take part in jihad in combat and civilian zones alike. Authorities have not stated how many arrests were made but confirmed that one 15-year-old boy was arrested for planning a shooting spree at his school.
Pistorius went on to state that the German-speaking Islamic circle (DIK) has become a nation-wide “hot bed” for radical Salafist activity in Germany. Security forces spent months monitoring the community and planning the raid. He went on to state that the raid was essential so that they could gather evidence of the groups intentions to radicalize German Muslims and he hopes that the information and evidence gathered will help German officials ban the association. Pistorius made the following statment to German Newspapers:
“We will not put up with Salafist associations and their backers flouting our rules and bringing our rule of law into question and convincing young people that they want to join the so-called Islamic State”
The group’s intention to corrupt German youth was confirmed when police discovered a weapons cache in a 15-year-olds bedroom. Further investigations revealed evidence that the boy had been communicating with Ali David Sonboly, a Radical Muslim that murdered nine Germans during a shooting spree on July 22. Police took the boy into custody and he quickly confessed that he was planning a shooting spree at his high school. The boy would later retract the statement.
Authorities would also find a highly-detailed plan to attack the school, leading them to believe the boy was not planning the attack on his own. A local newspaper reported a large number of small-caliber cartridges, several knives and daggers, evacuation plans of his school, a large amount of chemicals, and materials and instructions for making explosives were all discovered in the boy’s home.
The radicalized boy has been admitted to a psychiatric facility. Police have seized his computers and hard drives for further investigation.
[revad2]
