Berlin
Search for ex-RAF terrorists: operation in student dormitory
A police officer on duty in a building in Berlin-Friedrichshain. photo
© Dominik Totaro/dpa
The pressure on the two fugitive ex-RAF terrorists is increasing: the investigators assume that they have gotten close to one of them. Now there was an operation in Berlin-Friedrichshain.
Once again there has been a large police operation by a special operations command from the Lower Saxony police in search of the two former RAF terrorists Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub Berlin-Friedrichshain given.
There were indications of an object and emergency services searched an apartment in a student dormitory, said a spokeswoman for the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office. There were no arrests. Photos show how heavily armed police officers with helmets broke into the dormitory on the street of the Paris Commune on Tuesday night. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported.
The officials also continued the investigation of an apartment on Grünberger Strasse, which was searched on Sunday evening, the spokeswoman said. The State Criminal Police Office has not yet provided any further details.
The search is currently focused on Garweg: He is said to have lived temporarily in a trailer on a site in Berlin-Friedrichshain. The police had searched the area and two Berlin apartments in the past few days, and the construction trailer was removed for further investigations.
Hided over 30 years ago
Former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette was arrested in Berlin on February 26th. The 65-year-old as well as Garweg and Staub went into hiding over 30 years ago. All three belonged to the so-called third generation of the former left-wing extremist terrorist organization Red Army Faction. This was the epitome of terror in Germany for decades. In 1998 it declared itself dissolved. During the active terror period of the third generation, the then Deutsche Bank boss Alfred Herrhausen (1989) and Treuhand boss Detlev Karsten Rohwedder (1991) were murdered.
On Monday, investigators searched an apartment on Corinthstrasse in Berlin. According to the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office, they found one person, but none of the people they were looking for were there. Another operation followed in the afternoon on Autobahn 5 south of Darmstadt, including special operations forces, an LKA spokeswoman said. Accordingly, there were no arrests or arrests, but a camper was towed away. The spokeswoman did not provide any details about the vehicle.
Also wanted for robbery
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.