Again a suspected right-wing extremist network has been exposed, and the traces lead again to the area around the Bundeswehr. Almost 200 police officers searched eight objects in the area of Hanover and Lüneburg in Lower Saxony as well as in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin on Wednesday under the direction of the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office. They found weapons and ammunition, and the suspects seem to have formed a military sports group.
The public prosecutor’s office in Lüneburg is investigating nine men on suspicion of forming an armed group, including four Bundeswehr reservists. There were no arrests, the investigations are ongoing. The evidence, including data carriers, is examined. In the case of weapons and weapon parts, one has to see to what extent they are criminally relevant, whether there are violations of the Weapons Act or even the War Weapons Control Act, according to the Lüneburg public prosecutor Jan Christoph Hillmer.
Lower Saxony’s Minister of the Interior Boris Pistorius (SPD) praised the commitment that one was consistently taking action against extremism of all stripes. “We have the scene on the right in focus. We are doing everything we can not to leave this scene a foot wide. That is even more so if there is a suspicion that she might have armed herself.” The procedure also shows “that we must remain vigilant.”
The MAD is processing more than 800 cases with alleged right-wing extremist backgrounds
It was only at the beginning of March that special forces from the Hessian police arrested a 21-year-old soldier with alleged right-wing extremist sentiments, as well as his father and brother. Weapons, explosives and ammunition were seized, as well as a manifesto pointing to overturning plans. Title: “How to take power in Germany.”
In the garden of a soldier of the Special Forces Command (KSK), a weapons hiding place was dug in Saxony in 2020, members of the KSK had been noticed by the investigators several times. Among them was a former commanding officer, who is considered a possible key figure in a right-wing extremist prepper association, among other things, cartridges and fuses for hand grenades were found.
Another Bundeswehr soldier was arrested in 2018 and is charged with terrorism in the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court. According to the Ministry of Defense, of the 1016 suspected cases processed by the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) by the end of 2020, 843 were right-wing extremists.