Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – German police conducted a nationwide raid on Wednesday (7/12/2022) and arrested 25 people suspected of being members of a far-right “terrorist cell” plotting to overthrow the government and attack parliament.
Some 3,000 officers, including an elite counter-terrorism unit, took part in the morning raids and searched more than 130 properties, which German media described as one of the country’s biggest police acts against extremists.
The raid targeted suspected members of the “Citizens of the Reich” (Reichsbuerger) movement.
“They have made concrete preparations to forcibly enter the German parliament with small armed groups,” federal prosecutors said in a statement, quoted as saying AFP extension.
The arrested are accused of having formed a terrorist group by the end of November 2021, which set itself the goal of changing the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own state.
Meanwhile, two of the 25 arrests were made abroad, in Austria and Italy.
Karlsruhe prosecutors said they had identified 27 other people as suspected members or supporters of the terrorist network.
The Reichsbuerger movement included neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists and gun enthusiasts who rejected the legitimacy of the modern German republic.
Long regarded as a disaffected and eccentric man, Reichsbuerger has become increasingly radicalized in recent years and is seen as a growing security threat.
Former soldiers are believed to be among the members of the new terrorist group.
“The defendants are united by a profound rejection of state institutions and the free and democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany,” the federal prosecutors said.
The prosecutor assessed that the suspects were aware that their plan could only be carried out using military means and violence against state representatives.
It should be noted that Reichsbuerger followers generally believe in the continued existence of the pre-war German Reich, or empire, as it was under the Nazis, and several groups have declared states of their own.
They usually deny the authority of the police and other state institutions.
According to prosecutors, the alleged terror cell believes in the Reichsbuerger and QAnon conspiracy theories and is “absolutely convinced” that Germany is ruled by a “deep state” that must be overthrown.
They allegedly planned to appoint one of the arrested suspects, Heinrich XIII PR, as the new leader of post-coup Germany.
The prosecutor said he had tried to get in touch with Russian officials to discuss Germany’s “new state order” after the coup.
“There is no indication that the contact person responded positively to your request,” the prosecutor said.
A Russian woman named Vitalia B., who was among those arrested, allegedly facilitated the contact.
As part of the preparations for the coup, members of the terrorist cells who acquired weapons organized shooting exercises and tried to recruit new members, mainly from the military and the police.
Germany’s internal intelligence services estimated that the Reichsbuerger consisted of around 20,000 people. Of these, more than 2,000 are believed to have the potential to commit violence.
Germany sees far-right groups as the biggest threat to its security so far, following a string of attacks in recent years.
In April, police thwarted a plot by a far-right group to kidnap the health minister.
The group was affiliated with the Reichsbuerger movement and the so-called “Querdenker” (Lateral Thinkers) groups who opposed the confinement related to the corona virus.
Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Berlin has denied having links to far-right terrorist groups in Germany.
“The Russian Embassy in Germany takes note of the fact that Russian diplomatic and consular offices in Germany do not maintain contact with representatives of terrorist groups or other illegal entities,” the embassy said in a statement released by Russian news agencies.
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