Enlarge image
Police officers in front of the suspect's house last Thursday
Photo: Fabian Strauch / dpa
In the case of the suspected plan for a terrorist attack in Essen, Attorney General Peter Frank took over the investigation.
A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office confirmed this to SPIEGEL.
The background is the “special importance of the case”.
She initially did not want to comment on the details.
At the center of the investigation is a 16-year-old student who is said to have planned a terrorist attack in Essen that was apparently motivated by right-wing extremists.
So far, the proceedings on suspicion of a serious act of violence endangering the state and violations of the Weapons and Explosives Act have been conducted by the Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office.
Now the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe has taken over the case.
Special forces arrested the youth on Thursday night because he is said to have planned an attack.
On Friday, a court issued an arrest warrant for him.
The teenager is said to have previously told several acquaintances that he wanted to place bombs in his school.
Both the 16-year-old's current school and his former secondary school were then closed and searched for explosive devices.
During a raid on the suspect's apartment, the investigators discovered material that was suitable for a bomb, as well as "clearly xenophobic and right-wing extremist material".
According to SPIEGEL information, the 16-year-old student listed the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik as a role model.
During a search, police found a manifesto by the youth, in which he wrote about several "inspirations" for his plans, including the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in the USA and the shootings in Erfurt in 2002 and Winnenden in 2009.
srö/jpz