The man arrested in Berlin is not a wanted RAF terrorist.
In Berlin-Spandau, a suspect was arrested on Tuesday evening on an ICE train. A passenger claimed to have recognized a fugitive RAF terrorist. However, the public prosecutor's office has given the all-clear.
The person arrested in Berlin-Spandau on suspicion of being an RAF member is not one of the fugitives. "Investigations have shown that the person detained is not one of those wanted," said Martin Schanz, spokesperson for the Verden public prosecutor's office. "The release of the person has been ordered."
On Tuesday evening, a suspect was arrested together with the Federal Police following a tip from the public, a spokesperson for the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA) explained. According to a report by the Bild newspaper, a tipster claimed to have recognized a man sitting in an ICE train as Ernst-Volker Staub. Later, Burkhard Garweg was mentioned. However, it has since been determined: it is neither Garweg nor Staub.
The Verden public prosecutor's office has been investigating former RAF terrorists Staub, Daniela Klette, and Garweg since 2015 for attempted murder and attempted and completed serious robbery in several cases. Klette was arrested at the end of February in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The police, led by the LKA Niedersachsen, had been searching for her for decades. The search for Staub and Garweg continues. They belonged to 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 disbanded.
- Despite the claim by a passenger, the authorities have confirmed that the individual arrested on the ICE train in Berlin-Spandau is not one of the fugitive RAF terrorists.
- During the investigation, it was discovered that the suspect arrested alongside the Federal Police on Tuesday evening is neither Ernst-Volker Staub nor Burkhard Garweg, two fugitive RAF terrorists.
