LEAD: Germany arrests alleged al-Qaeda cell member

Dec 8, 2011, 15:53 GMT

Berlin - Heavily armed German police Thursday arrested a German Islamist who is alleged to have kept an al-Qaeda cell operating after its three main operatives had been caught, federal prosecutors said in Karlsruhe.

Halli S, aged 27, rented apartments for the group and raised funds in November for terrorist activities through bogus online sales on eBay, the web auction site, they said. He was arrested in the western city of Bochum.

S, whose name was withheld under media privacy guidelines, is accused of being a member of a group which police uncovered in April and call the Dusseldorf Cell. Sources said he had been under surveillance since July.

But a prosecutor said there was no evidence S had begun plotting any actual attacks. Nor did he have any guns or explosives. The announcement said S had had the task of raising funds for the cell.

The cell's alleged chief, Abdeladim El-K, and two others were arrested in April. Police said two of them tried to construct a detonator with a view to bombing targets in Germany.

El-K had been sent to Germany by an al-Qaeda chief in Afghanistan to carry out terrorist strikes.

Police searched for evidence at 16 homes and two offices, including the homes of five suspects associated with S, who allegedly offered luxury cameras on the web auctions site and collected payment without supplying any goods.

S was suspected of being a member of a foreign terrorist group, plotting terrorist attacks, forgery, organized fraud and data crime.

A second man was arrested in the port city of Kiel over the frauds, but police said he was unaware of the terrorist intent of S.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said: 'The case shows that Germany and Europe are still in the crosshairs of Islamist terrorism.'