Germany detains Hamas arms smuggling suspect deported from Cyprus

A man suspected of smuggling arms to Hamas has been deported from Cyprus to Germany and is being held in custody, federal prosecutors reported on Friday, two weeks after his arrest on a European arrest warrant.

Eight suspects have been arrested at the instigation of German federal prosecutors over recent months in connection with allegations of smuggling arms to the Palestinian Islamist group.

According to investigators, the weapons were to have been used in fatal attacks on Israeli and Jewish facilities in Germany and Europe.

Federal prosecutors initially ordered the arrest of three suspected Hamas members in Berlin at the beginning of October last year.

Three further arrests followed by the end of the year: one in London, one on the German-Czech border and one on the German-Danish border. Another suspect was arrested on arrival from Beirut at Berlin airport in January.

Prosecutors accuse the man deported from Cyprus, who was arrested at the airport having also travelled from Lebanon, of membership of a foreign terrorist organization and of providing a Hamas member with 300 rounds of ammunition through a third party.

His alleged accomplices are already in custody and under investigation.