Five Sikhs charged with terrorism in Germany

Five Sikhs charged with terrorism in Germany

2011-05-19 22:58:24 GMT+7 (ICT)

KARLSRUHE, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- German prosecutors on Thursday charged five Sikh men with being members of an international terrorist group, the DPA news agency reported.

The four Indian nationals and one German, aged between 31 and 41 years, were accused of being members of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). Three of them were also allegedly plotting to kill political opponents in Austria and India.

The alleged ringleaders, Bhupinder S B and Gurmit S, and Mandeep S, a German citizen, are suspected of plotting to murder the leader of a rival Sikh group at an event in Austria last year. The attack, however, failed because of the large police presence at the event. The men were also involved in a plot to murder a Sikh leader in India.

The alleged ringleaders were arrested in July, while the other three are still at large.

According to prosecutors, the two alleged ringleaders were active in Germany from 2009 until their arrest in July and were in regular contact with KZF leaders in Pakistan. They were tasked with acquiring weapons and transferring money, while the other two men allegedly helped the KZF leaders carry out their tasks.

The KZF calls for an independent Sikh state in the Indian subcontinent. In the 1970s and 1980s, calls for a separate Sikh state led to widespread violence in India, which was followed by a severe government crackdown.

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