Status: 06.04.2022 8:30 p.m
Police officers launched raids against a suspected neo-Nazi network in eleven federal states on Wednesday – including in Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein.
After years of investigation, the security authorities have managed a large-scale strike against the militant neo-Nazi scene. More than 800 police officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office, the GSG 9 of the Federal Police and officers from the State Criminal Police Offices swarmed out on Wednesday morning to carry out more than 60 searches in eleven federal states. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is investigating against 50 suspected right-wing extremists, as the authority in Karlsruhe announced. Four men were arrested. They are said to have recruited and trained young men for street fighting in Eisenach, Thuringia. The men are in custody.
Three suspects from Lower Saxony
The focus of the investigations was in Eisenach (Thuringia), but properties in Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Brandenburg, Berlin, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Baden-Württemberg were also searched, according to the federal prosecutor . According to information from the NDR in Lower Saxony, there were also two objects in the Hanover region and one each in Hildesheim and in the Heidekreis. According to a spokesman for the Attorney General, there are a total of three suspects from Lower Saxony.
Was one of the suspects a soldier in Munster?
One of the suspects is said to have been stationed in Munster. Chris Marvin C. served with the armored forces in Munster and was observed by the Military Shield Service (MAD), the news magazine reported “The mirror” on Wednesday morning. According to the information, the MAD did not prevent C. from having constant access to weapons and ammunition. The Bundeswehr said on Wednesday that the man was not known to be an active soldier at the Munster site in the Heidekreis. None of the suspects from Lower Saxony were arrested.
raids in the north
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, according to information from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, apartments in the districts of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, Vorpommern-Greifswald and Rostock were examined by three suspects who are said to have connections to the banned group “Combat 18”. This is considered the armed arm of the neo-Nazi movement “Blood and Honour”. According to information from the German Press Agency, investigators from Güstrow, Demmin and Pasewalk are on duty. In Schleswig-Holstein, two houses in the Plön district were searched, said a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor.
Those arrested are said to have led a right-wing extremist martial arts group
Reference to a so-called “Nazi neighborhood” in Eisenach.
According to the federal prosecutor’s office, three people were arrested in Eisenach and one in Rotenburg an der Fulda (Hesse). Among other things, the men are suspected of being leading members of the right-wing extremist martial arts group “Knockout 51” and members of other right-wing extremist associations. “Knockout 51” is a group that “under the guise of joint physical training attracts young, nationalist-minded men, deliberately indoctrinates them with right-wing extremist ideas and trains them for street fights,” the federal prosecutor said.
Training in the rooms of the state NPD
Training was therefore carried out in the headquarters of the Thuringian NPD, in the “Flieder Volkshaus” in Eisenach. There were searches here too. “Knockout 51” is mainly active in Thuringia and is also networked nationwide with other right-wing extremists in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. In Eisenach, the group is said to have tried to establish a “Nazi neighborhood” and become a regulatory force there.
Network around “Combat 18” and “Atomic Weapons Division Germany”
Those arrested and other suspects are said to have continued the right-wing extremist group “Combat 18”, which has now been banned in Germany. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said on Wednesday: “Today’s measures clearly show once again that bans on associations are a sharp sword in defense of our free and democratic basic order.” Other suspects are said to have been members of the Atomwaffe Division Germany, a right-wing extremist terrorist organization originating in the United States. In addition, the federal prosecutor accuses other suspects of being part of the “Sonderkommando 1418”. The aim of this chat group was to “win supporters for terrorist attacks on ‘race war’ and the destruction of existing democratic systems by replacing them with a neo-fascist system,” the authority in Karlsruhe explained.
Investigations since 2019
Members of “Sonderkommando 1418” and “Nuclear Weapons Division Germany” have been investigated since September 2019 based on findings by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. One of the accused is Leon R. from Eisenach, who was arrested today. His contacts with another accused led to the initiation of investigations. In the course of this, “evidence for personal connections of the accused in the right-wing extremist martial arts and music scene emerged,” according to the federal prosecutor.
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