The German Government has announced the formation of a new counterterrorism unit in an effort to gather more intelligence on potential terrorists after receiving credible information that Daesh, also known as ISIL, is preparing a terrorist attack in Germany.
The new force — the Beweissicherungs- und Festnahmeeinheit plus (Evidence Collection and Arrest Unit Plus), known as BFE plus — will consist of five groups of 50 agents spread throughout Germany, whose job will be to gather intelligence and make arrests.
It follows a report, commissioned after the November 13 Paris attacks — in which 130 people were killed and hundreds more injured by radicalized Islamic terrorists — that found that Germany’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies lacked the training and skills to deal with a similar attack, which could take place anywhere in Germany.
There was heavy criticism of Europe’s intelligence-sharing following the Paris attack, when it was discovered that many of the perpetrators of the attack had been able to cross freely between Syria and Europe — without being checked — despite many being known to some authorities.
Paris Terror Attack — German Links
Many of the Paris attackers were based in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, Belgium, but links were quickly found to Germany.
Meanwhile, security officials in Germany are interrogating a man — known only as Harry S, a 27-year-old from Bremen — who returned from Syria where he took part in the execution by Daesh militants of six or seven prisoners. His lawyer told reporters: “He wants to come clean.”
