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Barracks in Pfullendorf, Baden-Württemberg (archive)
Photo: Thomas Warnack / dpa
It all started with an argument.
On Saturday night, a Bundeswehr soldier from the Taunus is said to have approached his former girlfriend.
The argument must have been fierce, in any case the woman called the police - and gave the officers an explosive tip.
Her ex-partner, along with his brother and father, heard sharp firearms, she alleged.
He also runs armed through the area and has made racist statements about foreigners on several occasions.
He even talked about attacks once.
According to SPIEGEL information, there was a kind of manifesto in a sports bag that he had left with the woman: "How to take power in Germany."
Special forces of the Hessian police arrested the 21-year-old soldier Tim F. on Saturday.
His father was also arrested, and the brother volunteered to face the police on Sunday evening.
All three are in custody.
Grenades, detonators, explosives
Investigators apparently found what they were looking for in the weekend's raid.
They seized several pistols and rifles from the family, plus grenades, plastic explosives, fuses and all kinds of ammunition, most of which are believed to have come from ex-Yugoslavia or the Second World War.
The men from the Hochtaunus district are accused of "illegally hoarding weapons and ammunition and of having expressed themselves in right-wing extremist ways," said the State Criminal Police Office of Hesse and the Hanau public prosecutor.
According to SPIEGEL information, Tim F. is said to have tried to extract explosives for pipe bombs from ammunition; he is said to have already collected almost 30 grams.
Right-wing flyers and books were found in his room at the Bundeswehr, and he is said to have been a member of a nationalist group on the Telegram messenger service.
Witnesses report that he allegedly once said that refugees should be shot, and that the federal government must also be wiped out.
The manifesto he wrote is said to have been confused in part, but apparently also contained references to possible violent actions.
A reference to a supposed bunker in which the soldier is said to have hoarded further ammunition has apparently not been confirmed.
During a search of a garden property, the investigators were reportedly unable to find anything.
The Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe is checking whether he will take on the case.
So far, however, the evidence has not been sufficient for a terrorism case.
Tim F. has been with the Bundeswehr since November 2019, he committed himself as a voluntary military service provider for 22 months.
So far it had not been noticed by the authorities as extremist, neither the military intelligence service MAD nor the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had it in their databases.
He was deployed in the training center for special operations in Pfullendorf, Baden-Württemberg, but not in the security-sensitive area, but in administration.
The Bundeswehr has now initiated disciplinary proceedings - and wants to release him from the force as soon as possible.
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