Islamic raids in Germany

Islamic extremists keep on posing problems for Germany:

German police carried out a series of early-morning raids in several regions Wednesday against individuals suspected of providing financial support to Islamic extremist activities outside the country.

Thirty-three apartments and four businesses were searched during the raids, which were centered in the southern state of Bavaria but also included six other states, police said.

The action was directed primarily against 24 people suspected of supporting Islamic extremist activities. They were largely of Arab origin - including Lebanese, Iraqi, Egyptian, Jordanian and Tunisian nationals, police said. One Greek also was being questioned.

There was no evidence the suspects, aged 20 to 66, were planning attacks, but "we assume them to be dangerous," Bavarian police spokesman Hans-Dieter Kammerer said. They all were legal residents of Germany.

Several people were brought in for questioning, but nobody was arrested for extremist activities, said Wolfgang Stengel, spokesman for Bavarian state police. One man, found with several grams of hashish, was charged with drug possession.

The suspects were known to police because they had spent time "around Islamic groups," Stengel said.

They are suspected of "financially supporting radical Islamic activities abroad by collecting donations and procuring further money," a police statement said.

Police are investigating illegal fund-raising activities by the group, including through drug dealing, fraud and theft.

Officers were examining material confiscated in the raids, including video and cassette tapes, computers, mobile phones, bank statements and other documents, Stengel said.

Although the accusations were similar, Kammerer said there was no connection between Wednesday's raids and last month's operation centered on the Bavarian city of Ulm, when police arrested 15 people accused of producing false documents and using the proceeds to fund extremists.

There was no immediate indication of contact to well-known extremist Islamic groups, like al-Qaida or Al Tawhid, although two of the suspects spent time at an extremist training camp in Afghanistan, Kammerer said.