Berlin
Investigators are keeping the search pressure on ex-RAF terrorists high
The trailer in which Garweg is said to have lived will be examined forensically in the next few days. photo
© Dominik Totaro/dpa
The police are not letting up in their search for the former left-wing terrorists: first an area with construction trailers was searched, then two apartments in Berlin. Where are Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg?
During the search for two in Berlin suspected ex-RAF terrorists are in quick succession: After the searches over the weekend, investigators searched another apartment in Berlin-Friedrichshain on Monday morning. Ernst-Volker Staub (69) and Burkhard Garweg (55) have not yet been caught.
The investigators found a person in the apartment on Corinthstrasse early in the morning, but none of the people they were looking for were there, said a spokeswoman for the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA). A trailer site in Friedrichshain was searched on Sunday and an apartment in the evening. There was no arrest either.
According to the spokeswoman, Garweg “most likely” lived in a trailer on the site for a while. It is being determined whether he or Staub are still in Berlin. The construction trailer, which was around eight meters long and 2.50 meters wide and covered in sheet metal, was towed away early on Monday morning. He is being examined forensically, the spokeswoman said.
Just last Monday, former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette was also arrested in Berlin. Dust and cooking paths had disappeared like Burdock (65) over 30 years ago. All three belonged to the third generation of the former left-wing extremist terrorist organization Red Army Faction.
Evaluation continues
The LKA spokeswoman said forensics were still in use on the trailer site. “We assume that the construction trailer container was Burkhard Garweg’s accommodation,” she had previously said. There are no results of the investigation yet; the evaluation must first be awaited. The measure on Corinthstrasse is over.
No one was found in the apartment on Grünberger Strasse in Friedrichshain, which was searched on Sunday evening and only two kilometers from the trailer site. Therefore there was no arrest, said an LKA spokeswoman late in the evening. She did not comment on possible leads. During the search, masked plainclothes police officers and an armored vehicle stood on the street, as a dpa reporter observed. Several dozen onlookers gathered on the street to watch the events. The front door was guarded by uniformed police officers. The apartment is also continuing to undergo a forensic examination, which could take days, it said.
Technologically altered mugshots
The State Criminal Police Office had previously published several alleged current photos of Burkhard Garweg. They show him in a private setting, sometimes with one or two dogs – and in much better quality than the old mugshots that only existed until then. The police did not reveal whether the photos were found on Daniela Klette after her arrest last Monday, and the State Criminal Police Office also did not want to comment.
In addition, technically altered images of Garweg were published. “It cannot be ruled out that the accused Burkhard Garweg has changed his appearance,” said an LKA statement. The investigators therefore published three different versions of the same photo, in which Garweg can be seen either with a cap, a bald head or glasses.
Wanted on suspicion of terrorism and robbery
The RAF was the epitome of terror and murder in Germany for decades. In 1998 it declared itself dissolved. During the active terror period of the so-called third generation, the then Deutsche Bank boss Alfred Herrhausen (1989) and Treuhand boss Detlev Karsten Rohwedder (1991) were murdered.
There are arrest warrants against Klette, Staub and Garweg on suspicion of involvement in terrorist attacks. They were or are also wanted for several robberies. Between 1999 and 2016 they are said to have robbed money transporters and supermarkets in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. They are also accused of attempted murder because there was a shooting.