Munich: Alleged right-wing extremists charged with arms trafficking

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The public prosecutor's office in Munich: charges against eight alleged right-wing extremists for illegal arms trafficking

Photo: Sachelle Babbar / picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com

The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office has charged eight suspected right-wing extremists with illegal arms trafficking.

This was confirmed by a spokesman for the authority.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung had previously reported on it.

A former employee of AfD politician Petr Bystron is said to be among the defendants.

Bystron did not want to comment on the charges against the woman when asked.

The eight accused are charged with violations of the War Weapons Control Act and the Weapons Act.

Between 2015 and 2018, weapons allegedly intended for members of the right-wing extremist scene were allegedly smuggled into Germany from Croatia.

Investigators searched the homes and offices of several suspects, said the attorney general's spokesman.

Weapons were also found in the process: "Pistols from different manufacturers, a Uzi submachine gun, AK 47 automatic-fire rifles from the Kalashnikov brand and repeater rifles - so-called pump guns."

The woman, who has worked for the AfD politician Bystrom since 2018, is said to have temporarily kept a weapon of war in her private apartment, as SPIEGEL reported in February.

According to the »Süddeutscher Zeitung«, the woman was convicted in 2018 for having obtained a pistol from the former Yugoslavia.

References to the NPD, citizens of the Reich and the AfD

According to media reports, another defendant is said to have been a member of the NPD in the past and later a member of a Bavarian AfD district association for years.

The spokesman for the public prosecutor's office confirmed that they were members of the right-wing scene with links to the NPD, the "Reich Citizens" scene and the AfD.

Some of them are also said to be related to the Pegida movement.

The District Court of Munich I has not yet admitted the indictment to the main hearing.

The indictment comes on the same day that the Federal Criminal Police Office announced that the number of right-wing extremists classified as dangerous will continue to rise.

The police authorities are "still catching up," said BKA President Holger Münch at the autumn meeting of his authority.

Currently, 75 people nationwide are considered to be right-wing extremist threats. More than twice as many radical right-wingers are rated as “relevant people”. At the end of 2017, the number of people at risk from the right spectrum was less than 30 people. According to Münch, the increase can not only be explained by an increased willingness to use violence in the scene: the authorities have now also taken a closer look.

The police describe people as dangerous if they believe they will commit serious, politically motivated acts of violence - up to and including terrorist attacks.

The group of “relevant people” includes anyone who acts in the scene as a “leader”, as an “actor” or as a logistician and supporter.

In addition, there must be “objective evidence that allows the prognosis that they will commit politically motivated crimes of considerable importance”.

This group also includes contact persons or people accompanying a person at risk or a suspect.

has / dpa