A large arsenal of “weapons of war” was found near a radical mosque in Germany, adding to fears that terrorists are well equipped to carry out attacks across Europe.
The weapons were found in a refrigerator after a SWAT team operation in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Ismail Tipi, a local politician from the Christian Democratic Union, warned of the possibility of more Islamic State sleeper cells holding similar arsenals.
“According to my information, a weapons cache was excavated with heavy military weapons in this operation,” Tipi said in a press release Friday. “The danger of arming violent fundamentalists in Germany is very large. That makes this secret use more than clear.”
Some of the weapons used to carry out the Jan. 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris came from the vast weaponry left over from the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Other busts of terrorist cells have recovered weapons from Croatia, Serbia and Slovakia — these countries are under pressure from the European Union to tighten regulations for gun sales.
“The fear is large that Salafist sleeper cells, jihadis, and ISIS terrorists in Germany get support from foreign intelligence services that are not friendly to us,” Tipi said. “We can assume that the secret arsenals for a major attack are used not only in Germany but the whole of Europe. It would be very negligent if we do not recognize this danger and don’t uncover these arsenals.”
French authorities found 334 war grade weapons and made 223 arrests during raids in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attack in Paris. About 160 suspicious mosques have or will be closed for radical activities in the country.
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