German police arrested 4 potential members of Islamic State on Wednesday, all from Tajikistan, and are allegedly planning deadly attacks in Germany, according to prosecutors.
Special forces in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia arrested near the cities of Essen and Duesseldorf and also raided properties in the place.
Islamic extremists apparently aim to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to set off new attacks, arouse followers and emphasize their credentials as alternative rulers of swaths of unstable nations throughout the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
While ISIS has ordered its members to launch attacks against meek and distracted western countries, the Taliban has released images of its public health teams, to name an example.
According to German authorities, they successfully foiled Islamic State terror attacks on U.S. military bases and a person who was "critical of Islam."
Five suspects, including one who has been in detention for around a year, instigated attacks against U.S forces in Germany or individual people.
"Targets for the attacks were supposed to be institutions of U.S forces in Germany or even individual people," prosecutors said in a statement.
"In particular, they planned a murder attack on one person who had made public comments that they viewed as being critical of Islam."
They "had already bought weapons and ammunition" and "one suspect has knowledge how to make explosives," according to State Interior Minister Herbert Reul.
The suspects were identified as Muhammadali G., Azizjon B., Sunatullokh K., and Farhodshoh K. were arrested, the statement released by prosecutors.
The fifth man, Ravsan B., who was taken into custody, was also arrested.
Their surnames were withheld for privacy reasons.
The 5 will all be charged with being allegedly among a terrorist organization since January 2019.
The individuals' alleged leader is a 30-year-old Tajik man identified as Ravsan B., who has been jailed since March 2019 due to firearms charges.
The men were instructed to create a cell in Germany, prosecutors said.
The group planned to launch an attack in Tajikistan but later changed its target to Germany, U.S. Air Force bases, and an individual they considered critical of Islam.
They reportedly obtained ammunition, firearms, and had requested for materials for building an explosive device to instigate the attacks.
To pay for their plans for the attack, leader Ravsan B. allegedly accepted a $40,000 contract to assassinate a person in Albania, but the killing was not carried out.
The men were alleged to had been communicating with two high-profile IS figures in Afghanistan and Syria.
In an attack claimed to have been launched by the Islamic State in December 2016, one terrorist drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin. There were 12 fatalities and 56 injured.
Details of which U.S. air bases were targeted were not released by German authorities.
The reaction to the coronavirus pandemic has developed within extremist organizations. Its scale and threat have become more known.
