Whatever one thinks of the German government, at least they are raiding dodgy mosques when there is suspicion of illegal activity. In Britain on the other hand mosques seem to be sacrosanct when it comes to law enforcement with very few of them being investigated for ties to extremism. At least the Germans are getting this aspect of dealing with Islam correct.

According to a report published by Deutsche Welle (h/t ROP) German police raided a mosque in the German capital Berlin after suspicions were raised about what was going on there. In particular the German authorities were worried that some mosques and some Imams were involved in the financing of Islamic terror.

Deutsche Welle said:

Police raided a mosque and several other buildings in Berlin on Tuesday morning in an operation into suspected terrorism financing, prosecutors said.

State criminal police, intelligence officers as well as special police forces took part in the raids, which included the As-Sahaba mosque in the Berlin neighborhood of Wedding.

One of the main suspects was identified as Ahmad A., an imam at the mosque who preaches under the name of Abul Baraa.

The 45-year-old is suspected of sending money to an Islamist fighter in Syria “for purchasing military equipment to carry out terrorist criminal acts,” prosecutors said on Twitter.

Authorities did not immediately release further details about the raids or provide further details about when the alleged money transfer took place.

The As-Sahaba mosque is under surveillance by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency and is considered an important meeting point for members of Germany’s radical Salafist scene, according to the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper.

The presence of an Imam among those arrested suggests that this mosque is not just peripherally connected to jihad but is intimately connected to it. Whilst I commend the German security authorities for raiding this mosque and other properties connected to these individuals, there are aspects of this case that worry me and should worry others. It should be a matter of concern for German citizens that this dangerous mosque has been allowed to operate without any intervention by the state for so long. If the German government knew that this mosque was a centre of the Salafist scene then why was it allowed to remain open? This mosque should have been shut down long ago when it became known that it was a hotbed of jihad promotion and support.

This concern about this mosque being left alone is especially pertinent if claims being made by Front Page Magazine that this mosque was set up by an ISIS supporter are correct. The article in Front Page Magazine by Daniel Greenfield claims that this mosque that was set up in 2010 by German-Egyptian Islamist Reda Seyam, who is accused of being linked to the Bali bombing in 2002. If these claims are true then it reflects very badly on the German government that they have left this nest of Islamic vipers unmolested for so long.

It’s right that this mosque is at last being targetted by German security agencies but it should have been done at the first sign that it was becoming dangerous. We should be glad that this problematic mosque is at last being looked at, but we should also be very concerned that what is happening at this mosque could be happening in other mosques elsewhere, including in the United Kingdom.