Germans arrested for planning attacks and kidnapping minister | Abroad

The group would have wanted to create conditions comparable to a civil war by causing a prolonged national power outage. In the chaos, then, democracy would have to be overthrown to form a new government. The plan was to kidnap Minister Lauterbach by “taking out” his bodyguards.

Concrete plans

The plan was to kidnap Minister Lauterbach by “taking out” his bodyguards. In a response, the minister said not to be distracted by the threat of the coronasceptic suspects. “Some Covid deniers do not fight against vaccinations or corona measures. They fight against our democratic order. This is a small minority in our society, but they are very dangerous.”

Agents searched twenty homes in various states and seized documents, data carriers, computers and mobile phones. The suspects were active in the Telegram group ‘United Patriots’, which is characterized by right-wing extremist ideas and rejection of corona measures. Members of the group fantasized about assassination attempts on politicians and exchanged tips on how to make poison and obtain weapons.

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