MİT agent in ISIS: I was deployed to Syria to gather information

One of the ISIS members arrested for planning bombings in Germany's Dusseldorf, who turned out to be an agent of Turkish intelligence MİT, was brought before the judge yesterday.

The trial against the ISIS members who were arrested for preparing an attack in Dusseldorf's central square in Germany, started yesterday. Saleh A. who confessed before to be an agent of the Turkish secret service MİT, testified in front of court that he was sent to Syria for espionage.

In June, 2016 two suicide bombers of ISIS were planning to attack Dusseldorf's central Heinrich-Heine Boulevard, one to explode himself at the boulevard, and the second to kill the civilians around with arms and explosives.

However, the German police conducted an operation on the mentioned ISIS cell and detained both Syrian citizens. The third person by the name of Salah A. who turned himself in, was taken into custody in France, as part of the same investigation, and handed over to Germany.

The trial of the three members of ISIS started yesterday at the Dusseldorf State Supreme Court. Saleh A. had testified before that he worked for the Turkish intelligence MİT, and told the court yesterday only that he had gone to Syria for espionage.

Saleh A. did not answer the judge's question about which secret service he was involved in and what his mission was.

The 30 years old ISIS member stated that he joined at first the Free Syrian Army, switched then to Al-Nusra and became a member of ISIS in the end. Saleh A. stated in the court hearing that, "I am not a terrorist, because I went to Syria as an agent."

HE WAS THREATEND IN PRISON

According to the German press, Saleh A. claimed that he changed his statement because he was threatened in the prison of Wuppertal where he is held in custody, by some persons saying to him "If you leak out too much, you will never see your daughter again".

Saleh A. told the judge that he had killed a sniper of Assad's regime and defended himself with the words "He would have killed me if I hadn't killed him". Some video footage presented at court showed the presence of Saleh A. in clashes.

According to the indictment prepared by the prosecutor's office, Saleh A. was assigned with the task of carrying out a terror attack in Dusseldorf city center.

“THE INTELS I SUBMITTED ENABLED THE TURKISH POLICE TO OPERATE”

German magazine 'Der Spiegel' published in an article last month parts of Saleh A.'s first testimony, in which he said that he and his detained accomplice Hamza C. crossed from Syria into Turkey in 2014. He testified the following information to the German police as well:

"After I crossed into Turkey I started to work secretly for the Turkish Intelligence MİT. The intels which I submitted to the Turkish police enabled them to conduct operations and to detain nearly 50 ISIS members. I enabled the prevention of many planned attacks of which some were meant to target US Consulate.”

Accordingly, Salah A. later travelled to Greece with a boat as a refugee, from where he moved on to Germany and sought asylum. The investigation file on Salah A. says that he readied the cell to carry out the terror attack in Dusseldorf after his arrival in Germany. On Facebook, he wrote “Everything is ready for the action, the rest is left to Allah.”

The trial against the three ISIS members is expected to continue until the end of this year.