Berlin, 14 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Prosecutors have arrested four suspected members of Hamas - three in Berlin and one in Rotterdam in the Netherlands - on suspicion of membership in a foreign terrorist organization.

The case concerns weapons that were to be held in preparation for possible attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe, German prosecutors said on Thursday.

The arrests were made in co-operation with Dutch investigative authorities.

According to a statement, three men were detained in Berlin: an Egyptian national, a Dutch national and a man born in Lebanon. The eldest of the alleged conspirators, a man born in Lebanon in 1967, was provisionally detained by police in Rotterdam.

The suspects are said to have had "close ties to leaders of the military wing of the militant Islamist organization Hamas."

Beginning in the spring of this year at the latest, one of the suspects based in Berlin was allegedly involved in locating an underground weapons depot in Europe on behalf of Hamas.

This suspect received his instructions from the Hamas leadership in Lebanon, according to the prosecutor's office.

Weapons were to be brought to Berlin and kept ready for possible attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe. In October, the three men living in Berlin had made several trips to gather weapons. They were allegedly supported by the man detained in Rotterdam.