As of: February 16, 2024, 6:29 a.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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Hanover: The Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office is searching for Ernst-Volker Staub on a digital display board.
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
The police are reopening the investigation against three suspected ex-RAF terrorists.
The public is also called upon to help – there is a big reward in store.
Hanover - After the program “Aktenzeichen XY” on Wednesday (February 14th), more than 160 tips were received about the three suspected former RAF terrorists.
The Verden public prosecutor's office announced this on Thursday (February 15),
according to the
German Press Agency
(dpa) .
The State Criminal Police Office is now evaluating this, it said.
Burkhard Garweg, Daniela Klette and Ernst-Volker Staub are wanted - but not because of their actions during the RAF period.
Rather, it's about the period between 1999 and 2016, during which the authorities accuse the three wanted of attempted murder and a series of serious robberies.
After decades on the run: New information about RAF terrorists and a reward of 150,000 euros
After decades on the run, the search is now being reopened.
According to the police, the investigations of the past few months, in particular extensive searches and interrogations, had resulted in “further investigative approaches,” which is why the public was once again asked for help.
ZDF
wrote after broadcasting “Aktenzeichen XY” on the platform X (formerly Twitter) that
they had already received a good 90 tips about the RAF members they were looking for .
A few hours later there were already over 160 tips.
A reward totaling at least 150,000 euros has also been offered for information that leads to the capture of those wanted.
According to authorities, anyone who knows anything about the people they are looking for can call 0511/98737400.
The public prosecutor's office emphasized that you can also provide information anonymously, for example via the BKMS system.
The police have been looking for 65-year-old Daniela Klette, 55-year-old Burkhard Garweg and 69-year-old Ernst-Volker Staub for over 25 years.
The public prosecutor's office has been investigating the three since 2015.
In any case, investigators advise people not to approach the people they are looking for because they are armed.
“We can speak of luck that no one has been killed so far,” said senior public prosecutor Koray Freundeberg on
ZDF
on Wednesday about the group.
About the RAF
The left-wing extremist terrorist organization Red Army Faction (RAF) murdered over 30 people in Germany and over 200 were injured.
The left-wing extremists particularly targeted political and business leaders.
Well-known RAF murder victims included Federal Prosecutor General Siegfried Buback, Dresdner Bank boss Jürgen Ponto and employer president Hanns Martin Schleyer.
The organization was founded in 1970 by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler and Ulrike Meinhof and dissolved in 1998.
This is what is known about those wanted: whereabouts, crimes and contacts
Regarding the previous whereabouts of the three accused, the police said that Klette, Garweg and Staub stole a car in Hagen between December 19th and 21st, 2006 and robbed a supermarket in Bochum-Wattenscheid a few days later.
They are believed to have robbed a supermarket in Löhne-Ulenburg on April 14, 2009, and a supermarket in Osnabrück at the beginning of January 2015.
Attempted murder and attempted aggravated robbery are said to have occurred in Stuhr in June 2015.
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.
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The public prosecutor's office assumes "that the robberies are no longer politically motivated, but that the accused use them to make a living, which is why further robberies appear possible," the police said.
It is currently unclear whether those wanted are in Germany or abroad, it said.
However, they are likely to have lived in Germany at least between 1999 and 2016.
The search for the three suspected RAF terrorists has now been expanded internationally and spread worldwide via the Europol and Interpol networks, as
NDR
reported.
Dust, burdock and Garweg are assigned to the so-called third RAF generation.