WASHINGTON (AP) — A Turkish man who was arrested in Germany and is wanted for prosecution in the United States on terrorism charges has been deported instead to Turkey, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The case concerns Adem Yilmaz, who was indicted under seal in 2015 on charges that he participated in attacks on U.S. military forces along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was also charged with giving advice and instructions on military-type training to a man who carried out a 2008 suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed two American soldiers and injured at least 11 others.
That man, Cueneyt Cifti, told German law enforcement in 2009 that he remained a member of a group called the Islamic Jihad Union and that “as long as the war is going on, I will fight against the Americans,” according to the indictment.
The indictment, unsealed Tuesday, includes charges of providing material support to a terrorism organization and aiding and abetting military-style training.
Yilmaz was arrested in Germany pursuant to an extradition request, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case had not yet been announced. It was not immediately clear when he was taken into custody.
The U.S. official said the Germans this week deported Yilmaz to his native Turkey despite a pending extradition request from the U.S. and a Justice Department indictment in New York.
Germany has an extradition treaty with the U.S. and U.S. officials were in the process of persuading a court to allow the requested extradition to proceed when Yilmaz was sent to Turkey, the official said.
