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Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier at a press conference on September 18, 2020
Photo: Jens Büttner / dpa
In the investigation into right-wing extremist chats by police officers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, there were searches of two officers.
You have been suspended from duty, said Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier (CDU) in the evening in Schwerin.
Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against two other police officers, but they have not been searched.
A total of 17 officials and one employee of the state police in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are now suspected of having exchanged right-wing extremist ideas in Internet chats.
For the past three years, internal police investigations have brought new cases to light.
The starting point was a procedure against the alleged right-wing extremist prepper group "Nordkreuz", which, according to Caffier, is still ongoing.
In this context, extensive data had been secured from a former member of the Special Operations Command (SEK) Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
This will be evaluated intensively, said Caffier.
Further cases cannot be ruled out.
During the searches on Friday, mainly storage media were seized in the apartments and offices of the two police officers.
Caffier: "Rotten apples on an otherwise healthy tree"
The Interior Minister spoke of the shameful results of the investigation.
However, a right-wing extremist network is not recognizable.
The suspected police officers would know each other from joint training sessions.
"There are rotten apples on an otherwise healthy tree," said Caffier.
"We have to sort them out completely."
Such persons have no place in the police.
Apparently no connections to NRW
According to current knowledge, there are no connections to the scandal over right-wing extremist chats with the police in North Rhine-Westphalia, as the Interior Minister said.
In NRW, 30 police officers are suspected of having exchanged right-wing extremist material in chat groups.
Among the pictures that were shared there, according to North Rhine-Westphalia State Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), are photos of Adolf Hitler and the fictional representation of a refugee in a gas chamber.
On Friday, investigators discovered ammunition, a rifle and a small amount of amphetamine during a raid on a police officer.
The woman is now being investigated because of the drugs, among other things.
According to SPIEGEL information, some suspects in the NRW case have admitted the postings.
According to this, several police officers are said to have confessed to their own misconduct and stated that the content of the chat does not correspond to their political convictions.
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bah / dpa