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ZDF presenter Rudi Cerne in the studio of the program “Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved”.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
From 1999 to 2016, three ex-RAF terrorists are said to have attacked cash transports and supermarkets.
TV investigators from “File number XY... unsolved” provide the investigators with new clues.
And now?
Hanover - After decades on the run, the investigators' network could be tightening around three suspected ex-RAF terrorists: The millions of viewers of the ZDF program "Aktenzeichen XY... unsolved" gave the investigators 161 new clues about Ernst-Volker Staub ( 69), Burkhard Garweg (55) and Daniela Klette (65) - long after the left-wing terrorist Red Army Faction (RAF) was dissolved in 1998. Investigators have been trying to track down the trio since 2015, and the public prosecutor's office is investigating attempted murder and serious robberies during that time from 1999 to 2016. Wanted posters are being used to search for the three accused, and new search calls are now flashing on digital display boards in Hanover, for example.
The Verden public prosecutor's office announced on Thursday that the new tips - 48 of which were anonymous - would be evaluated by the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office.
The investigative authorities are also specifically contacting the trio's families, their circle of friends and former RAF supporters.
The public prosecutor emphasized that there is the possibility of providing anonymous tips.
A reward totaling at least 150,000 euros has been offered by various authorities for information that leads to the capture of the wanted person.
The investigators strongly warn against approaching the wanted people themselves - they are armed.
The authorities assume that the attacks were not politically motivated - rather the accused wanted to get money.
Further attacks are possible.
According to information from the German Press Agency, burdock comes from Karlsruhe, Garweg from Bonn and dust from Hamburg.
The public prosecutor's office and the State Criminal Police Office published an initial search call with reference to the "File number
The left-wing extremist RAF was considered the epitome of terror and murder in the Federal Republic for decades.
In total, the RAF murdered over 30 people and more than 200 were injured.
Victims included Federal Prosecutor General Siegfried Buback, Dresdner Bank boss Jürgen Ponto and employer president Hanns Martin Schleyer.
The RAF disbanded in 1998.
Dust, burdock and Garweg are assigned to the so-called third RAF generation.
Crime scenes of the RAF trio included Osnabrück, Wolfsburg and Stuhr in Lower Saxony as well as Hagen and Bochum-Wattenscheid in North Rhine-Westphalia.
What is striking is that almost all of the crimes were committed in connection with public holidays, the public prosecutor's office said.
It is also striking that the getaway vehicles, some stolen and some purchased, were in the possession of the perpetrators for a long time.
However, it was initially unknown where the vehicles were during this time; according to the prosecution, some must have been parked for a long time.
The investigators have now also revealed where the three have probably been since December 2006: According to this, they stole a car in Hagen between December 19th and 21st, 2006 and robbed a supermarket in Bochum-Wattenscheid a few days later.
On April 14, 2009, they probably attacked a supermarket in Löhne-Ulenburg, and at the beginning of January 2015 there was a robbery at a supermarket in Osnabrück.
In June 2015 there was an attempted murder and attempted aggravated robbery in Stuhr, and at the end of 2015 there was a robbery on a cash-in-transit truck in Wolfsburg.
Most recently, the three are said to have robbed a supermarket in Hildesheim in May 2016 and a cash-in-transit truck in Cremlingen at the end of June 2016.
However, according to previous information from investigators, it is unclear whether the three are in Germany or abroad.
They are likely to have lived in Germany between 1999 and 2016.
The trio was placed on the “Europe's Most Wanted” list in 2020, which is used to search for serious criminals and terrorists across Europe.
dpa