German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere at a press conference on May
6, 2015 in Berlin. German police arrested four people Wednesday accused
of being members of a "terror" organisation that acquired explosives
for attacks on Muslims and refugee homes. AFP PHOTO | JOHN MACDOUGALL
BERLIN
German police arrested
four people Wednesday accused of belonging to a far-right "terror"
organisation that acquired explosives for attacks on Muslims and refugee
homes, the federal prosecutor's office said.
"In the
search, pyrotechnics with large explosive power and further pieces of
evidence were confiscated," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"To
what extent the suspects had set targets or dates for attacks will be
the subject of further investigation," the prosecutor added.
The
four suspects, three men and a 22-year-old woman identified only as
Denise Vanessa G., are accused of starting a "far-right terrorist
organisation" with a larger group of people last November calling itself
Oldschool Society.
Two of the accused, named as
56-year-old Andreas H. and Markus W., 39, are believed to be the
ringleaders, using the titles "president" and "vice president".
The fourth suspect was listed as 47-year-old Olaf O. All are German citizens, prosecutors said.
TERRORIST ORGANISATION
"According
to the findings to date, the aim of the organisation was to mount in
smaller groups attacks on well-known Salafists, mosques and hostels for
asylum seekers in Germany," said the prosecutors based in the
southwestern city of Karlsruhe.
The four were arrested based on warrants issued Tuesday by a federal judge on charges of founding a terrorist organisation.
About
250 officers from special units of police forces in five states and the
federal police searched the homes of the four accused as well as those
of five other suspects.
The investigation was launched
based on information gleaned by agents from the Office for the
Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security watchdog,
the prosecutors said.
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