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Ballstädt in Thuringia: Large-scale police operation at the "Yellow House" (February 26)
Photo: Michael Reichel / dpa
After a large-scale raid in several federal states against a neo-Nazi network, eight suspects are in custody.
This was announced by a spokesman for the Gera public prosecutor.
They and other suspects are charged with organized drug trafficking and money laundering.
During the searches on Friday in a total of 27 objects in Thuringia, Hesse and Saxony-Anhalt, the officials found drugs, weapons and around 120,000 euros in cash, among other things.
Experts and appraisers should now check whether the weapons are also operational.
The investigation, including ten arrests against the "Brotherhood of Thuringia", to which, according to the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the groups "Turonen" and "Garde 20" belong, is considered a severe blow to the Thuringian neo-Nazi scene.
According to his own statements, the spokesman for the Gera public prosecutor's office assumes that it will now also be checked whether a criminal organization is suspected of being formed.
"The case shows that we have to take a close look at the connections between right-wing extremism and organized crime," Thuringian Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) told SPIEGEL on Friday.
The neo-Nazis are said to have acted with a high level of criminal professionalism.
Apparently the men were also active in the red light district.
They are said to have operated a brothel in Gotha and planned a second one, and there were also searches there.
The »Turonen« and the »Garde 20« are neo-Nazi brotherhoods that use symbols like criminal rocker bands.
The network is said to have been founded in 2015.
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wit / dpa