Authorities in Germany and the Netherlands on Thursday announced the arrest of nine people from central Asia accused of plotting high-profile attacks.
German prosecutors said seven of the people were arrested in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands, and were nationals of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The group entered Germany from Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its invasion, and they formed a terror group in June 2002. Prosecutors said that while the group did not have concrete plans for an attack, it had examined potential targets and tried to obtain weapons.
All but one of the suspects arrested in Germany had also collected money for the Islamic State group and transferred funds to the militants abroad, the prosecutors said.
Dutch authorities said the two people arrested there were connected to the group in Germany, and that one of them was suspected of being an Islamic state member and of receiving an order to plan an attack.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
