BERLIN (Reuters) -German authorities have arrested three suspected foreign operatives of Hamas they believe were preparing a serious act of violence in Germany, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The three men are suspected by prosecutors of being involved in procuring firearms and ammunition for Hamas since at least the summer of this year to be used for assassinations targeting Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany, they said.
“In the course of today’s arrests, various weapons, including an AK 47 assault rifle and several pistols, as well as a considerable amount of ammunition, were found,” said the federal prosecutors in a statement.
The three, identified in line with German privacy laws only as German citizen Abed Al G., Wael F. M., born in Lebanon, and German citizen Ahmad I., were arrested in Berlin.
In February, four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin in what prosecutors described as the first court case against militants of the Islamist group in Germany.
Der Spiegel media outlet reported that anti-terror investigators observed how the accused met on Wednesday in Berlin for a weapon handover before operational forces intervened and discovered functional weapons.
(Writing by Madeline Chambers, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
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