German authorities arrested five men alleged to be key links in terror group Isis’ recruitment network on Tuesday morning, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). Among the men – who are charged with supporting a foreign terror organization – is a 32-year-old known as “the preacher without a face”, an Iraqi by birth known as Abu Walaa.
According to SZ information, authorities have long considered Abu Walaa to be one of the central figures in the German Islamist scene.
The arrests come after a year-long investigation into Abu Walaa and his inner circle, who investigators believe recruited young Muslims to travel to Syria to fight for Isis, supporting them logistically and financially.
As part of the investigation, police raided a mosque in late July in the small northern town of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony which has long been considered a centre of the German Salafist scene. Abu Walaa is alleged to have given sermons in the mosque encouraging people to travel to Syria to fight.
Two of the other men arrested were preachers in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia who are alleged to have links to Abu Walaa. SZ reports that Tuesday’s arrests were made possible by a statement given by a 22-year-old who returned to Germany in September after fighting for Isis in Syria.
In an interview with SZ while still in Turkey, the young man had described Abu Walaa as “Isis’ number one in Germany.”