Germany To Deport Nigerian, One Other Over Suspected Terrorist Plot

German officials said Thursday that it will deport two German-born terror suspects to the countries their parents hail from, a decision which is the first in the country’s history.

The suspects, a 27-year-old Algerian and a 22-year-old Nigerian, are believed to have links to Islamic State.

The men, who live with their parents in the central city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, were arrested in February on suspicion of planning a terror attack.

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A gun and a flag of the so-called Islamic State were found at their homes during police raids. However, there was not enough evidence to charge them with terror offences.

Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said talks were already under way with Algeria and Nigeria to facilitate the deportation, and the two men would be subject to a “life-long re-entry ban”, from Germany.

Pistorius said: “We are sending a clear warning to all fanatics nationwide that we will not give them a centimetre of space to carry out their despicable plans. We have drawn our sharpest sword to combat concrete terror threats.

“They will face the full force of the law regardless of whether they were born here or not.”

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Germany determines citizenship by the nationalities of one or both parents and also a person’s place of birth. The deportations are the first time in postwar German history that such a move has been countenanced and comes amid an increasingly hardline stance from the authorities.

Germany has been on high alert since the Christmas lorry market attack in Berlin that claimed 12 lives and dozens injured. The killer, 24 year-old Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri, swore allegiance to IS in a video before the atrocity.

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