A right-wing terrorist group that planned a coup in Germany intended to create its own armed forces to achieve this goal, it was reported on Monday Germany Average.
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The plot came to light last week when German security forces launched a massive operation to arrest suspects.
The searches and seizures involved 3,000 police officers searching more than 150 properties in 11 of 16 federal states. Two of the suspects were detained in Italy and Austria. German media are describing it as one of the biggest police actions the country has ever seen.
25 people were arrested, including a former member of German parliament from the eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, former officer and aristocrat Heinrich XIII Reuss, whom the group intended to appoint as the country’s new leader after the coup.
The conspirators also plan to set up more than 280 “national security companies” across the country with the idea of turning them into a new army in the future, members of the Bundestag’s justice committee have revealed.
Specific preparations had already begun in the states of Saxony, Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg, lawmakers said.
While there is no evidence that the coup threat was immediate, it must be taken seriously, Conservative spokesman Gunther Kring stressed, noting that the plotters were prepared to use violence.
The inmates are linked to the “Reichsbürger” (“Citizens of the Reich”) movement, which includes neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic. They feel that the pre-WW1 empire still exists and its laws apply. , but several “Reichsbürger” groups have declared their own “states”.
The “Reichsbürger” have become increasingly radicalized in recent years and are seen as a growing security threat.
The searches unearthed more than 400,000 euros in cash, gold and silver coins, members of the Bundestag’s justice committee have revealed. They added that a cache with gold bars worth six million euros was also discovered.
