A raid against members of the banned association “Caliphate State” has been underway in six federal states since the morning. In Hesse, twelve searches took place.
The raids against the so-called “Caliphate State” have been going on since 6 a.m. According to the investigators, 47 search warrants were executed, twelve of them in Frankfurt, according to hr information. The Rhineland-Palatinate State Office of Criminal Investigation, which is in charge of the investigation, will give details in the course of the afternoon.
The 41 accused are accused of violating a ban on association with the banned “Caliphate State” and of distributing propaganda material of unconstitutional organisations. In addition, as ringleaders, they are alleged to have maintained the organisational cohesion of the association.
According to the investigators, the “Caliphate State” is an Islamist organisation with the aim of establishing an Islamic state based on the Koran as its constitution and the Sharia as the only applicable law. The organisation “Caliphate State” was banned in 2001.
The association is led by Metin Kaplan, who lives in Istanbul. Kaplan was sentenced to four years in prison in 2000 for public incitement to commit crimes and was deported from Germany to Turkey in 2004. In 2005, a Turkish court sentenced him to life imprisonment, which was reduced to 17 years and six months in 2010. In 2016, Kaplan was released from prison early due to cancer.
