Three Syrians who entered Germany as migrants have been arrested on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State and may have had links to those who carried out the Paris terrorist attacks last year, the authorities said on Tuesday.
(NewYorkTimes)- Thomas de Maizière, the German interior minister, said that the travel documents the men were carrying when they were arrested on Tuesday had been issued by the same authority as ones found on some of the men who carried out the attacks in and around Paris in November.
The authorities also said that the three Syrians appeared to have used the same smugglers to enter Germany and to apply for asylum as some of those involved in the terrorist assaults in France.
“It could be that this was a sleeper cell,” Mr. de Maizière told reporters.
Prosecutors said in a statement that they believed the three came to Germany in November to carry out a planned attack for the group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, or to await instructions for one.
There was no indication the three had been planning a specific attack, according to prosecutors, who gave no further details about possible targets. But they said they had sufficient evidence to arrest the men on suspicion of membership in a foreign terrorist organization.