Arrest in Berlin - Person checked is not ex-RAF terrorist
Man provisionally detained at Berlin-Spandau station is not a wanted former RAF terrorist. "Checks have shown that he is not a wanted person," a spokesperson for the Verden public prosecutor's office told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The man's release has been ordered. As he is an innocent bystander, no details will be provided.
According to the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office, the man was detained following a tip from the public. A spokesperson said that the provisional arrest was in connection with the wanted suspects Burkhard Garweg (55) and Ernst-Volker Staub (69). A DNA comparison was conducted, according to dpa information.
In recent months, several people have been checked who were mistaken for Garweg or Staub. Most recently, there was a large police operation in Berlin in mid-July due to this. Witnesses had contacted the police, believing they had seen Staub on a passenger ship on the Spree. This turned out to be a false alarm after the identities were checked.
The Verden public prosecutor's office has been investigating Staub, Garweg, and Daniela Klette since 2015 for attempted murder and attempted and completed serious robbery in several cases. Klette was arrested in Berlin-Kreuzberg at the end of February this year. She is in custody. The police, led by the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office, had been searching for her for decades.
The search for Staub and Garweg continues. They were part of the so-called third generation of the left-wing extremist Red Army Faction (RAF). In 1998, the RAF, which had killed more than 30 people, declared itself dissolved.
The Commission has not made a final decision on the implementation of the new rules regarding misidentifications in such scenarios. Despite the man's provisional detention, the Commission's decision on the application of the new rules regarding mistaken identities associated with wanted suspects like Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub is still pending.
