Police said on September 22 that the early-morning raids included a search of a mosque’s office.
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The statement continues: “The investigations relate to a 51-year-old Moroccan who is suspected to have instigated others to participate in Syria on the part of militant jihadist groups”. Maassen said that there was no proof yet that Islamists had infiltrated the refugees.
The security agency also expressed concern that many were attempting to exploit the refugee crisis by recruiting incoming asylum-seekers, actively encouraging them to join terrorist groups or go to Syria to fight for the militants.
This comes as reports indicate some 600 people from Germany have joined the militants operating in Syria and Iraq. No arrests were made in the raids.
But he there was “no reliable evidence” that jihadists were infiltrating Germany masquerading as refugees.
“We have no indications that anything was being planned in Germany”, he said when asked about indications of any plot to attack targets here.
Mr Maassen was speaking after police carried out raids targeting suspected recruiters for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
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He added that there was no link to an attack last Thursday in which an Iraqi man with a jihadist background stabbed a German policewoman before officers shot him dead in Berlin.
