Police arrest suspected German ISIS member at Duesseldorf airport

BERLIN (REUTERS) - German police on Wednesday arrested a 22-year-old man suspected of joining Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and fighting with the militants in Syria, the Federal Public Prosecutor said.

The man, named only as Kerim Marc B., was arrested at Duesseldorf airport.

He is suspected of undergoing weapons training with ISIS and planning attacks, after travelling through Turkey to Syria in March 2013 and joining the group by October.

He returned to Germany at the start of 2014 but returned to Syria in July 2014.

Media reported he tried to seek treatment in Germany to remove grenade splinters lodged in his body, but then abandoned his plan and returned to the Middle East.

Like many European countries, Germany is seeing a steady stream of its citizens travelling to Syria to join militants operating there.

After militants killed 17 people in Paris in January, French and Belgian police conducted a series of raids and arrested eight suspected militants, at least two of whom were suspected of fighting in Syria.

Germany's top public prosecutor has said the German justice system was struggling to cope with the number of suspected jihadists returning from Syria and the resulting investigations and trials.

About 600 German citizens have joined fighting in Syria, some 70 have died there and about 200 are believed to have returned, German officials have said.

Earlier this year, Berlin drew up new plans to seize personal identity cards of would-be militants for up to three years to keep them from travelling to Syria.

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