KARLSRUHE , Germany, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- German police arrested three men suspected of traveling to Europe to conduct a mission for the Islamic State, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement said more than 200 federal and state police raided the men's homes in Schleswig-Holstein state, near the border with Denmark, on a warrant citing alleged membership in a terrorist group. With last names withheld under German privacy laws, the suspects were identified as Mahir Al-H., 17, Mohammed A., 26, and Ibrahim M., 17.
The statement said Mahir Al-H. was trained in Syria by the Islamic State in "the use of weapons and explosions" and was then sent to Europe with the two other men to "carry out a mission."
Evidence suggests the suspects were brought to Germany by the same smugglers who brought in those responsible for the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks which killed 130 people, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.
The men are suspected of traveling through Turkey and Greece to arrive in Germany and arriving as a group in mid-November 2015, with passports, U.S. dollars and cellphones given them by IS, the prosecutors said.
