"This is an important blow to the extremist scene in Germany. The prosecutor's office is investigating because there is a suspicion of connections with the Islamist State (Daesh)," German Federal Justice Minister Heiko Maas commented on the raid.
Raids were carried out on apartments in Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, and a mosque in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, was also searched. During the course of the raid, police detained five men alleged to have been recruiting followers for the Daesh terror group.
Among those arrested is Ahmad Abdelaziz A., a 32-year-old immigrant from Iraqi who calls himself Abu Walaa and is also known as the "preacher without a face."
Walaa uses Facebook and chat groups to recruit followers, and even has his own app, NDR reported.
A 22-year-old Daesh follower from Germany called Anil O. told NDR at a meeting in Turkey in July that Walaa is "the number one for IS (Daesh) in Germany)," and his mosque in Hildesheim is the first place of call for people who want to join the terror group.
