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Franco A., accused of terrorism, on the way to a courthouse (archive image)
Photo: Arne Dedert / dpa
The former Bundeswehr officer Franco A., who is suspected of being a terrorist, has been temporarily arrested in Offenbach.
A spokesman for the police headquarters in Southeast Hesse said he was taken to the office during a person check on Friday evening and then released again.
Several media had previously reported.
The spokesman did not want to say anything about the background.
Franco A. is currently on trial at the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, and the federal prosecutor is charging him with preparing a serious crime that endangers the state.
He is said to have planned attacks on politicians.
The former officer also assumed a false identity as a Syrian refugee – from the point of view of the prosecutors, in order to direct the suspicion of an attack on refugees and to shake confidence in asylum policy.
Police used pepper spray
The Federal Prosecutor's Office sees a nationalist attitude as a motive.
Franco A. largely denies the allegations.
However, he admits that he owned several weapons and kept them at his place of work, among other things.
The Berlin "Tagesspiegel" wrote, citing a witness, that Franco A. had massively opposed his provisional arrest.
Accordingly, there was "a loud and violent argument" between him and the police, in which officers used pepper spray.
They also threatened to use a Taser gun.
tfb/dpa