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The Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office in Hanover.
© Moritz Frankenberg/dpa
Investigators from Lower Saxony have achieved a spectacular success: after a decades-long manhunt, an ex-terrorist who went into hiding was caught.
Will the 65-year-old help clear up RAF crimes?
Hanover/Berlin - She lived underground for more than 30 years, now the former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette is supposed to put investigators on the trail of her accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg.
The 65-year-old, who was arrested in Berlin, is now in custody in Lower Saxony.
Staub (69) and Garweg (55), on the other hand, are still being sought at high speed.
Klette did not provide any information about the allegations to the responsible investigating judge at the Verden district court, as a spokeswoman for the Lower Saxony Ministry of Justice said.
The Verden public prosecutor's office accuses the three former members of the left-wing terrorist Red Army Faction (RAF) of attempted murder and a series of serious robberies in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia between 1999 and 2016.
The investigators assume that the accused committed the crimes in order to get money for their underground life.
Klette lived in Berlin under a false identity
It is unclear how close the investigators are now on the trail of dust and waste.
For “investigative and tactical reasons,” the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA) initially did not provide any further details.
On Tuesday, LKA President Friedo de Vries proudly announced the arrest of Daniela Klette at a press conference in Hanover.
The 65-year-old lived under a false identity in a seven-story apartment building on Sebastianstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg, where LKA investigators arrested her without resistance.
Police officers go to Daniela Klette's home in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
© Paul Zinken/dpa
According to neighbors, the woman called herself Claudia, gave math tutoring and was otherwise friendly.
On a Facebook page under her alias and on other sites on the Internet there are many photos that show a woman with her appearance in groups that practice the Afro-Brazilian dance and martial art capoeira.
A “tip from the public” in November put the police on the trail of Burdock, the investigators said.
Confidentiality was agreed upon for this purpose.
The police have been investigating since November and then also kept an eye on the apartment in Berlin and Klette himself.
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Police clear apartment building
The police have now found weapons in the house, as a spokeswoman for the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office confirmed.
The Berlin newspaper “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported on firearms being found.
In the afternoon, the police cleared the house because of a possible danger.
All residents had to leave their apartments.
The sidewalk was closed.
Later, a police officer from the explosive ordnance disposal service carried an object out of the house.
"It looks like a mortar shell, but it's not, but it's pretty close," said a police officer.
After Klette was arrested, the police found, among other things, magazines from a weapon and cartridges.
The weapons were not initially discovered.
“The evaluations are currently underway at the LKA and the Verden public prosecutor’s office,” said a spokeswoman for the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior.
There was excitement at the end of the press conference in Hanover when the LKA president reported another arrest in Berlin.
It is a man in the “sought age segment”.
However, this time the investigators didn't land a hit.
The man who was temporarily arrested is at large again.
“There is no doubt that it is not one of the two criminals who are still on the run,” said the LKA.
Klette is accused of an explosive attack
The Verden public prosecutor did not want to comment on the further investigations against Daniela Klette and the course of the proceedings.
An arrest warrant against Klette that was obtained years ago by the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe is still in force, as an authority spokeswoman said.
Klette is being investigated for causing an explosive explosion and attempted murder in crimes in the early 1990s.
Specifically, she is accused of having carried out an explosive attack on the Weiterstadt correctional facility (JVA), which was under construction, in March 1993, together with the still wanted RAF terrorists Staub and Garweg.
The explosion caused damage to the building amounting to around 123 million German marks.
Klette is also said to have attempted with other RAF members to carry out an explosive attack on a Deutsche Bank building in Eschborn, Hesse, in February 1990.
The explosive did not detonate because the ignition failed.
In addition, according to investigators' findings, Klette and RAF members fired at least 250 shots at the US embassy in Bonn-Bad Godesberg in February 1991.
The Lower Saxony authorities initially did not comment on the question of which prison Klette was taken to.
A Justice Department spokeswoman cited security considerations.
She also did not want to comment on whether Klette was in solitary confinement.
She also has no information as to whether Klette should be brought to the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe.
According to media reports, the 65-year-old is in custody in the Vechta women's prison.
The third RAF generation
The trio Klette, Staub and Garweg are assigned to the so-called third RAF generation.
The journalist and RAF expert Stefan Aust said about this in the ZDF “heute-journal” that the second generation tried to free the first from prison.
“When that didn't work, there was the third generation, and they did one thing and they simply committed murder.
They just shot people or set traps for them.”
Former Stuttgart Attorney General Klaus Pflieger is convinced that the former RAF terrorists must have had a network of helpers.
“We experienced this with all RAF generations that there were a lot of supporters who offered shelter,” Pflieger told the German Press Agency.
He was involved in several RAF investigations and indictments in the 1980s.
“Some things like doctor visits and other daily life tasks are difficult to do without such help.
There was definitely help.”
Former Attorney General Pflieger does not expect that Klette will take advantage of the leniency program to name names.
“The tradition of the RAF shows that 99 percent of the people tried to keep the rule of silence,” said the terror expert.
“I am worried that Ms. Klette will stick to it.” Nevertheless, the state should continue to aggressively offer the established leniency program so that the former terrorists reveal their secrets.
“It must be important to us to answer the questions that remain unanswered about the attacks and victims,” said Pflieger.
“If we don’t make a concession, we may never know the historical truth.” dpa