Jihadists have been looting churches in the Middle East and southwest Asia for many years to collect stolen artifacts to fund Jihad.
But now–perhaps due to the refugee influx from Syria–Jihadists are bringing this tactic to the West, specifically Germany…
Eight young men appeared in court in Cologne on Tuesday charged with robbing churches and schools to finance Isis’ religious war in Syria.
When they broke into churches they stole collection boxes, crosses and other objects “dedicated to church services and religious veneration”.
From the schools, the men stole laptops, money and a cash card, which they used to finance jihadist fighters in the Syrian civil war.
The central figure in the gang was a Moroccan, prosecutors say, who also uploaded a video to YouTube encouraging Muslims to fight for Isis. He himself appears in the German section of the video.
Prosecutors allege that the 26-year-old Moroccan travelled to Syria where he was trained in a military camp.
Three of the men are also charged with supporting a foreign terrorist organisation and will face a concurrent trial in Düsseldorf.
http://www.thelocal.de/20151020/cologne-gang-stole-from-churches-to-fund-isis
