Members of a Telegram chat group who were detained in Germany this week posed a serious terrorist threat, authorities said on Thursday, noting a plot to kidnap the country's health minister.
Investigators searched properties in nine different states on Wednesday. They were linked to members of a chat group suspected of planning to plant explosives and kidnap what prosecutors described as "well-known public figures."
The suspects in the chat group "Vereinte Patrioten" (United Patriots) are said to be linked to protests against coronavirus restrictions and have ties to the so-called "Reichsbürger" movement, which rejects the authority of the state.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote on Twitter that "[Health Minister] Karl Lauterbach and all of us as democrats will not allow ourselves to be cowed" by such threats.
Prosecutors in Koblenz in western Germany said that the raids were carried out in 20 properties in total, with about 270 officers deployed, including special police units.
A total of 12 people from the chat group were being investigated. During the searches police seized weapons including 22 pistols including a Kalashnikov rifle, ammunition, cash, gold bars and silver coins.
Four suspects were arrested. Prosecutors said they had chosen to remain silent so far and were now being detained in various pretrial centres in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The two main suspects were a 55-year-old man and a 54-year-old man. Along with the other two suspects in custody, they face possible charges of preparing a serious act of violence threatening the state and violating arms control legislation.
They are accused of first planning to destroy power facilities in order to trigger a nationwide blackout; in a next step they intended to kidnap Lauterbach; and after having caused "civil war-like conditions," they were intended to take over the government, the Rhineland-Palatinate attorney general's office said.
The plans were more than just boastful chat online, said prosecutor Jürgen Brauer. "For us it was clear that this was not just a case involving delusional individuals, but dangerous criminals who wanted to and probably could put their plans into action."
The investigation against the group started in October last year.
Faeser said the suspects posed a "serious terrorist threat" and pointed out that it was not the first time that extremists and coronavirus deniers had networked and become radicalized on Telegram.
"This shows how important it is to act resolutely against extremist and terrorist threats on this platform," she wrote on Twitter.
Lauterbach himself said he would not by "distracted" by the alleged threats.
"Some Covid deniers are not fighting against vaccinations or coronavirus requirements. They are fighting against our basic democratic basic order," he told the Bild newspaper.
As health minister since December, Lauterbach - himself a medical doctor - has been the most visible face of the government's strategy against the coronavirus. In recent months, this has mostly meant announcing the lifting of restrictions and urging caution on the part of the population as the measures are lifted.
Bild reported that the Telegram chat group had already gathered thousands of euros in order to purchase more weapons for their plot.
source https://www.rawstory.com/arrests-in-germany-as-health-minister-named-as-possible-kidnap-target/