Hunt for BaaderMeinhof fugitives intensifies in Berlin
German police on Sunday seized a trailer in Berlin believed to be home to one of two members of the far-left militant Baader-Meinhof gang, who have been on the run for more than 30 years.
Police have been seeking ErnstVolker Staub, 69, and Burkhard Garweg, 55, from the radical anticapitalist group also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF).
The search for the two men intensified in recent days, after Monday’s arrest of Daniela Klette, 65, the third member of the longsought-after trio from RAF that carried out several bombings, kidnappings and killings that traumatised Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.
In an operation that lasted several hours, police raided a site in east Berlin where several trailers were parked.
During the search of the premises, “the suspected accommodation of Burkhard Garweg was, with high likelihood, found”, said a police spokesman, adding that the mobile home was impounded.
Police also briefly detained 10 people and released them after establishing they were not the two fugitives.
Since the RAF disbanded in 1998, Klette and the two fugitives were believed to have been financing their lives on the run through robberies of money transporters and supermarket cash heists.
Klette, the only woman tagged as “dangerous” on Europol’s most-wanted list, was arrested on Monday in Berlin on suspicion of attempted murder and various serious robberies between 1999 and 2016.
Following the breakthrough, police said they believed the two remaining fugitives were also hiding in the German capital.
Police on Saturday published new photos that they said were very likely recent and of Garweg.
Among the photos believed to have been taken between 2021 and 2024 was a clear frontal view of the alleged fugitive, sitting in between two dogs on a sofa.
Police said it “could not be ruled out” that Garweg and Klette had maintained “personal and direct” contact.