Status: 12.09.2024 16:09
After investigators published a video of Burkhard Garweg, the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office received many tips. The clip shows the suspected ex-RAF terrorist wishing a woman success.
The authorities have received a mid-double-digit number of tips since the publication on Tuesday afternoon. A spokesman for the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) in Hanover told NDR Niedersachsen on Wednesday morning. These are now being prioritized and processed. In addition to numerous other media, the ZDF television program “Aktenzeichen XY… Ungelöst” also reported on the expanded manhunt and the video on Wednesday and asked witnesses to come forward.
Video shows facial expressions and gestures of the wanted man
In the published recording, a man, who is said to be Garweg, smiles into the camera and wishes a “Karin” or “Carin” much “success for her exam”. The video is said to show him in 2020 on a site with vehicles and caravans. The moving image clearly shows the facial expressions and gestures as well as the pronunciation of the suspected terrorist, the investigating authorities said.
Garweg can be seen on photos in Hildesheim
According to their own statements, the authorities are still evaluating “a large amount of evidence” – including 17 terabytes of data. If printed out, that would correspond to up to 86,000,000,000 DIN A4 pages, they say. Among the digital traces are photos that are said to show Burkhard Garweg in an apartment in Hildesheim in 2016. Garweg is said to have robbed a supermarket in Hildesheim eight years ago together with the suspected ex-terrorists of the Red Army Faction (RAF) Daniela Klette and Ernst-Volker Staub.
Is Daniela Klette travelling with fake IDs?
In the picture from Hildesheim, Garweg is reflected in a window, according to the LKA.
The LKA also published fake ID documents that were presumably used to rent apartments near the crime scene. There is a suspicion that Klette posed as “Sarah” during a crime in Stuhr (Diepholz district) in 2015 and as “Lucia” during the crime in Hildesheim in 2016, it said. The possible landlords at the time are now being sought.
Police assume “numerous circumstances” in Garweg
The investigators assume that Garweg is still in Germany. He probably has a large circle of supporters in the left-wing scene, according to the statement from Wednesday. The investigating authorities suspect that he may have “had numerous relationships with women”. They are therefore asking women who had a relationship with the now 56-year-old to contact the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office.
New accusation: kidnapping for ransom
As the public prosecutor’s office and the State Criminal Police Office further announced, according to current findings there is “sufficient suspicion” that the trio is being considered for further crimes. In total, the public prosecutor’s office currently assumes that 13 attempted and completed serious robberies have been attributed to the suspected ex-RAF terrorists. They are now also accused of kidnapping for ransom. Klette, Staub and Garweg are said to have jointly raided the cash desks of supermarkets in Elmshorn and Osnabrück. They threatened the employees with a pistol and an electric shock device in order to get money. Staub and Garweg are also said to have raided a supermarket in Löhne-Ulenburg. According to the Verden public prosecutor’s office, the arrest warrant has been extended accordingly. The accused are also said to have raided cash desks of supermarkets in Leverkusen, Celle and Stade. The total damage amounts to more than 2.7 million euros, the statement said.
Reward offered for information
Since 2015, the two authorities have been investigating the alleged ex-RAF trio for attempted murder and attempted and completed aggravated robbery. The trio is suspected of having committed the robberies in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia between 1999 and 2016 in order to finance their underground life. The three are said to have belonged to the so-called third generation of the RAF. After Daniela Klette was arrested in February, investigators are intensively searching for Staub and Garweg.
According to the information, the LKA is taking information under Telephone (0511) 9873 74 00 and any police station. Even a anonymous tip portal is still available. According to the public prosecutor’s office and the State Criminal Police Office, a reward totaling at least 150,000 euros has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the accused.
More information
Its origins lie in the 1968 movement. Then the RAF became a brutal terrorist group. It disbanded in 1998. Ex-members are still being sought. (11.09.2024) more
From the 1970s onwards, terrorist attacks by the RAF kept the Federal Republic on tenterhooks, and there were deaths. In the “German Autumn” of 1977, the situation escalated. (11.09.2024) more
She is accused of two further crimes. Klette has been in custody in Vechta since the end of February. (10.09.2024) more
The LKA confirmed this to NDR Lower Saxony. Parts of the recordings are now to be published – one comes from Hildesheim. (06.09.2024) more
This topic in the program:
NDR 1 Lower Saxony | Current | 12.09.2024 | 09:00 a.m.
