Three Syrian men believed to have been sent to Germany last year by the so-called Islamic State group, aka Daesh, were arrested in raids on Tuesday, part of efforts to root out extremists sent to Europe amid the migrant influx, authorities said, according to ABC News.

The three are accused of coming to Germany in mid-November at the behest of Daesh "in order either to carry out an assignment they had already received or to keep themselves ready for further instructions," federal prosecutors said. 

They are suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization.

The men were arrested in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany's northernmost state, and their apartments searched, prosecutors added. They were identified only as Mahir Al-H., 17, Mohamed A., 26, and Ibrahim M., 18, in keeping with German privacy rules.

The three traveled to Germany via Turkey and Greece, the route used by most migrants to Europe last year. Mahir Al-H. joined Daesh in Raqqa, Syria, earlier last year and received weapons and explosives training, prosecutors said, before he and the other two suspects in October told a Daesh official responsible for "operations and attacks outside the Daesh area" that they would travel to Europe.

The three were provided with passports by Daesh and were given a "high four-figure sum" of cash in U.S. dollars as well as cellphones with a pre-installed communication program, prosecutors said in a statement.

Source: MENA