Local police raided a mosque and several other buildings in the German capital on Wednesday, in an operation aimed at tackling suspected terrorism financing, Deutsche Welle reported citing prosecutors as saying.
One of the main suspects was identified as Ahmad A., an imam preaching under the name of Abul Baraa at the As-Sahaba mosque in the Berlin neighbourhood of Wedding.
Prosecutors said that 45-year-old Baraa is suspected of sending money to an Islamist militant in Syria "for purchasing military equipment to carry out terrorist criminal acts."
No further details about the raids or the alleged money transfer have been released by authorities.
The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper reported that Germany's domestic intelligence agency is keeping a watchful eye on the As-Sahaba mosque, as it is believed to be a major meeting point for members of Germany's Salafist movement.
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He is also accused of taking part in a deadly terror attack in Bali in 2002 which claimed the lives of at least 202 people.
On 19 December 2016, a truck deliberately rammed into a crowd at a Berlin Christmas market on the Breitscheidplatz square, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured. After the attack, Daesh reportedly released a video of Tunisian perpetrator Anis Amri pledging allegiance to the terror group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[4]
*Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.
