Second German soldier held over far-right attack plot

BERLIN: German police on Tuesday arrested a second soldier in a bizarre far-right plot to kill politicians, including former president Joachim Gauck, and blame the attack on asylum seekers.

The suspect, identified only as Maximilian T, 27, was stationed at the same Franco-German base near Strasbourg as army lieutenant Franco Albrecht, who was arrested on April 26.

Albrecht, 28, had managed to create the false identity of a Syrian fruit seller from Damascus and to register himself as a refugee who was granted asylum, a space in a shelter and monthly state benefits.

Their plan, say prosecutors, was to commit an attack, for which they had obtained a pistol and drawn up a hit list of pro-refugee politicians, including Gauck and Justice Minister Heiko Maas.

The pair, along with 24-yearold student Mathias F, had hoped the murder would “be seen by the population as a radical terrorist act committed by a recognised refugee,” said a statement from the prosecution.

Albrecht was first questioned by Austrian police in February at Vienna airport after he tried to retrieve a loaded, unregistered handgun he had hidden in a toilet there days earlier.

This sparked an investigation that threw up the big surprise — that Albrecht had in December 2015 created a false identity as a Syrian refugee even though he spoke no Arabic. — AFP