The connections between the right-wing extremist scene and the drug milieu have long been the focus of the police. Now the investigators have struck again – and not only in Thuringia, but also in other federal states.
After all, most of the weapons lying there next to all sorts of objects with Nazi symbols and a kitschy Christmas tree with swastika bullets are not sharp.
Nevertheless, the security authorities are alarmed by what they have found in several apartments in Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein and Berlin.
Once again it is about the connection between Thuringian right-wing extremists and organized drug crime. And according to the Thuringian Minister of the Interior Georg Maier (SPD), one should not ignore the topic of terrorism, because three of the weapons discovered were live.
Proceedings at the Gera public prosecutor’s office
In the early morning, around 550 officers from Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse and Bavaria went on a large-scale raid. A total of 26 residential and business premises were searched. Arrest warrants have been executed against seven suspects, one of whom was detained on holiday in Greece. Proceedings are now underway at the Gera public prosecutor’s office against 14 suspects. Among other things, it is about gang-like drug trafficking, money laundering and violations of the gun law.
According to the Thuringian State Criminal Police Office, two of the suspects were members of the “Turons”, two others were assigned to the “Garde 20” group. Both groups are part of the neo-Nazi network “Bruderschaft Thuringia”, which has been in the sights of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution for years. It is a “very, very radical and violent form of right-wing extremism,” said Interior Minister Maier. The other accused belong to the drug scene.
Among other things, narcotics, three sharp handguns and several decorative or alarm weapons as well as assets worth around 1.4 million euros were seized. Several cell phones and crypto cell phones were also seized. The investigators are hoping for further approaches from the latter, as they are often used by criminals to conduct their business.
A total of 30 arrest warrants executed
Since 2020, the Thuringian State Criminal Police Office has had indications of connections between the right-wing extremist scene and the serious criminal milieu, said LKA boss Jens Kehr at a press conference on Thursday, where the items seized were shown. Since then, a special commission has repeatedly carried out searches, seized drugs and money and executed a total of 30 arrest warrants. Some of these raids caused a stir. It was only in March that charges were brought against nine suspects at the Erfurt Regional Court after such a raid.
Maier rated the action on Thursday as an “effective hit” against right-wing extremism and organized crime in Thuringia and as a sustained blow to the scene. When fighting right-wing extremism, financial flows must also be taken into account, he said. The spokesman for the chief public prosecutor’s office in Gera, Thomas Riebel, said: “I do not want to rule out that significant profits have also flowed into the area of the right-wing scene.” But further investigations would have to show that.
Source: Stern
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