The Federal Public Prosecutor is investigating the planned Lauterbach kidnapping

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Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD)

Photo: Axel Heimken / dpa

The Attorney General in Karlsruhe is taking over the investigation into members of a chat group who are said to have planned to kidnap Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and carry out explosive attacks in Germany.

Accordingly, the federal prosecutor suspects five men of forming a terrorist organization.

Four of them are in custody.

"This was preceded by extensive investigative measures by the general public prosecutor's office in Koblenz and the state criminal police office in Rhineland-Palatinate," says a statement from the general public prosecutor's office.

The four named suspects were provisionally arrested on April 13, 2022 and have been in custody since April 14, 2022 on the basis of arrest warrants from the Koblenz District Court.

In connection with the arrest of the accused, there were "sufficient indications that the accused could have founded a terrorist organization and / or worked as members of such an organization," it said.

Group apparently wanted to trigger "civil war-like conditions".

In addition, three people in the group are suspected of having prepared a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state, as well as violations of weapons law.

"According to the current status of the investigation, there is a suspicion that the accused belonged to a group that had set itself the goal of triggering civil war-like conditions in Germany and thus ultimately bringing about the overthrow of the federal government and parliamentary democracy," says the statement of the Attorney General.

The plan was to bring about a nationwide "black out" by damaging or destroying power supply facilities.

In addition, the incumbent Federal Minister of Health, Prof. Dr.

Karl Lauterbach, "possibly also by killing his bodyguards, forcibly kidnapped".

To implement these plans, two people would have been looking for like-minded people in different Telegram chat groups from September 2021 and “at least won the other three suspects for their idea”.

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