Arrest of Two Suspected Supporters of the Foreign Terrorist Organisation ‘Islamic State’ in Connection with Participation in a Financing Network

Year of issue 2024
Date 25.07.2024

Today (25 July 2024), the Federal Public Prosecutor 's Office had the Russian nationals

Abdulraschit D. and
Surkho Z.

arrested in the district of the Duchy of Lauenburg and in Hamburg in execution of arrest warrants issued by the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered that seven properties be searched simultaneously in Berlin, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Saxony. The measures were carried out by agents of the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Berlin and Brandenburg State Criminal Police Offices as well as local law enforcement.

The suspects are alleged to have supported a foreign terrorist organisation (section 129a para. 1 no. 1, para. 5 sentence 1, section 129b para. 1 of the German Criminal Code) and to have violated the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (section 18 para. 1 no. 1a, para. 7 no. 2 of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act). They are furthermore suspected of membership in a criminal organisation (section 129 para. 1 sentence 1, para 5 sentence 3 of the German Criminal Code).

In essence, the arrest warrants set out the following facts:

Abdulraschit D. and Surkho Z. joined a criminal organisation that had been established previously by other individuals. Said organisation’s objective was to collect funds in Germany and other European countries for the foreign terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’. The donations were procured in particular through social media and sent to a member of the organisation abroad who then forwarded them further. The use of the funds was coordinated within a chat group of the criminal organisation. The money was largely destined for female members of the Islamic State as well as fighters.

Abdulraschit D. was the group member in charge of the collection of funds and oversaw one of the joint donation boxes. In April 2023, he handed his box filled with approximately € 12,000 over to Surkho Z. to forward the amount to Islamic State. Moreover, Abdulraschit D. was a member of the chat group which decided on the use of the donations.

Since April 2023, Surkho Z. was responsible for the box that Abdulraschit D. had entrusted him with. It was likewise his mission to receive, manage, and forward cash donations in and from Germany. He participated in several transactions to the benefit of the Islamic State, totalling more than € 25,000.

The suspects are due to be brought before the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice this afternoon who will be reading out the arrests warrants to them and deciding on the enforcement of pre-trial detention.