The German Federal Police yesterday carried out a large-scale raid involving at least 1,000 officers at 19 residences across the country, including Berlin, and arrested seven people allegedly funding the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.

Seven people, four women and three men, who are citizens of Germany, Turkey, Morocco and Kosovo, are accused of acting as “financial intermediaries” in a network that supports ISIS terrorists in Syria. Police officers claim that the detainees communicated on platforms such as Telegram, and from there they received instructions to transfer money. The authorities also claim that in this way the criminals sent at least 65,000 euros while they were in Germany.

Arrests were made in the regions of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, and searches were carried out in Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg and Hesse. A similar raid on a smaller scale was carried out at the same time by the Dutch authorities.

Prosecutors said the arrests are linked to multiple investigations into people accused of making donations to ISIS, in which police are searching more than 90 other properties.

The seven detainees are expected to appear before an investigator today, where a decision will be made as to whether they remain in custody.

Police officials also said the ISIS aid donations are intended to ensure the delivery of supplies to members of the group, which is being held in two camps in northern Syria. The nature of these deliveries is not specified. In some cases, financial aid is alleged to have allowed prisoners to escape or be smuggled out of prisons.

Many Islamic State fighters are being held in Al-Hol and Rose camps in territory controlled by the largely Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Kurds of these areas have been fighting ISIS since its inception.

In recent months, many experts have advised the West to support the SDF in every possible way to prevent a possible resurgence of the Islamic State, from where it is largely unknown where it gets its money from. Although now destroyed, ISIS once peaked, controlling about a third of Syria and about 40% of Iraq, while retaining some ties to the West.

Germany has invested almost 3.4 billion euros in Iraq since 2014, building military hospitals, providing equipment and training Kurdish fighters fighting against it. “It is necessary to know what is happening in these areas and support those who are fighting ISIS. We are constantly studying the situation and discussing this issue very regularly,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said last week in response to a question from a Kurdistan24 journalist.