Four women and three men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of helping to finance ISIS terrorists in Syria.
Police officers conducted a series of early-morning raids on Wednesday on 19 properties across the country, including in Berlin, while a co-ordinated search was carried out on a building in the Netherlands.
German prosecutors allege those detained have been acting as “financial intermediaries” in a network which support ISIS terrorists in Syria.
The seven arrested, who hold German, Turkish, Moroccan and Kosovan citizenship, are also accused of breaking export laws.
Four of the arrests were made in North Rhine Westphalia, with one each in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bremen.
Searches were carried out in properties in Berlin, Bavaria, Hamburg, Hesse, Thuringia and Lower Saxony.
Prosecutors said the crackdown was linked to numerous investigations of people accused of donating to ISIS, in which more than 90 other properties were being investigated by police.
Officials say donations are being made to strengthen ISIS by helping to ensure the delivery of supplies to terrorist members held at two camps in northern Syria. The nature of those supplies was not specified.
At least €65,000 ($69,000, £56,000) has been transferred to Syria by the financing network, prosecutors claim.
In some cases, the financial help has enabled prisoners to escape or be smuggled out of the Al Hol and Roj camps.
Both camps are guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
A counter-terrorism expert told The National earlier this year that the West should offer the SDF more support or risk an ISIS resurgence.
At the height of its strength, the terrorist group controlled about a third of Syria and 40 per cent of Iraq.
The US-backed SDF declared it had defeated the group in early March.
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
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How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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