Denmark finds three guilty for buying drones for Islamic State

Three men were convicted on Thursday in Denmark on charges of buying drones and other equipment for the extremist Islamic State group to use in Iraq and Syria.

Between 2013 and 2017, the trio bought remote-controlled model planes, drones, thermal cameras and other components both online and at stores in Denmark, the Copenhagen city court said.

The court said sentences were due on December 6.

None of the three was convicted according to the strictest paragraph of the terrorism statute, which could have resulted in a life sentence.

They risk up to six years for aiding a terrorist organisation, news agency Ritzau reported.

The defendants – a teacher, a bicycle mechanic and a taxi driver – denied the charges.

The court withheld their names.

According to the prosecution, the defendant who worked as a taxi driver made several trips to Turkey and took cameras and other equipment with him.

The thermal cameras were used for reconnaissance prior to an August 2014 attack on a Syrian military base in northern Syria claiming several lives, according to the prosecution.

Evidence included a USB stick where the purchases were listed as well as information about model planes and how to make explosives.

Danish police and the police security service, PET, conducted several raids in the greater Copenhagen area, and made their first arrest in September 2017.

The trial opened in September.

(dpa/NAN)