German cops crack down on far-right
>>BERLIN: Police in Germany arrested twelve men, including one of its own officers, in a nationwide probe into an extreme-right group suspected of planning attacks on politicians, asylum-seekers and Muslims, state interior ministry sources said on Friday.
The arrests followed raids, some by heavily-armed special units, which hit 13 locations in six German states.
The four prime suspects planned to spark “a civil-war-like situation... via as yet undefined attacks on politicians, asylum seekers and people of Muslim faith,” federal prosecutors said.
A further eight suspects were alleged to have agreed to “financially support the group, provide it with weapons or take part in future attacks”.
The twelve included a police officer previously suspended over suspicions he had links to the far-right, a source at the interior ministry in North-Rhine Westphalia state said, though it was not immediately clear if he was one of the prime suspects.
From its founding in September 2019, the group’s ultimate aim was “to shake the state and social order in Germany and in the end to overturn it”, investigators believe.
In order to plan their attacks, the group allegedly held regular meetings which were coordinated and organised by two of the main suspects, named only as Werner S and Tony E.
The suspects, who are German citizens, communicated using apps.
Investigators launched Friday’s raids to determine whether the suspects already had weapons or other supplies that could be used in an attack.
The twelve men were to appear before a court yesterday to hear whether they will be imprisoned on remand.
German authorities have increased their attention to the country’s extreme right scene since the murder of conservative politician Walter Luebcke last June and an October attack on a synagogue in eastern city Halle.