German police raided premises in four states early Tuesday on suspicion that Chechen Islamists were scouting locations for an attack, officials said.
Berlin prosecutors said the raids took place at nine locations in the German capital and the states of Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia.
In a statement, prosecutors said the suspects, who are aged 23 to 28, are accused of "having scouted out locations for a possible later attack motivated by Islamism."