Ex-RAF-member - Weapons, Gold, Ammunition: These were found in Daniela Klett's apartment
Weapons, Ammunition, Backpacks, Gold and a great deal of cash: Investigators have secured several thousand items in the apartment of former RAF-terrorist Daniela Klette in Berlin. They found, among other things, a Polish assault rifle, a Czech machine pistol, and a convincing replica of a Panzerfaust, as the Prosecutor's Office of Verden and the Criminal Investigation Office of Lower Saxony announced. The investigators believe that Klette and her accomplices used these weapons and replicas during robberies.
The investigators have now published photos of the items and hope to receive tips. They are appealing to the public with several questions, such as who can provide information about the finds, where the weapons came from, and where they were used.
Ex-RAF terrorists wanted: Investigators ask for help
Since the publication of images of Ernst-Volker Staub in early July, a substantial number of tips have come in, which the investigators are now checking. Tips can be submitted to the LKA Niedersachsen and every police station, and anonymously through an online portal.
The former RAF trio Daniela Klette, Ernst-Volker Staub, and Burkhard Garweg are suspected of having stolen around 2.7 million Euros during robberies – including with one or both of the weapons, the investigators revealed. They are suspected of having used one or both weapons to threaten or coerce their victims with death.
Trio allegedly used weapons to intimidate their victims
The investigators suspect that the trio may have used these weapons, for example, during a robbery on a money transport vehicle in Cremlingen east of Braunschweig in June 2016. At that time, a passenger in a money transport vehicle was violently taken hostage. After a shot was fired at the money transport vehicle, the driver opened the vehicle, allowing the perpetrators to escape with the loot.
The replica resembles, according to the investigators, a Panzerfaust that was developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and used in various wars as an improvised anti-aircraft weapon. The replica is partly made of original parts, making it difficult to distinguish from a real weapon. Klette, Staub, and Garweg are suspected of having used this replica and at least one real weapon to intimidate and threaten their victims during several robberies.
The investigators suspect that the replica and at least one of the weapons were used during a robbery on a money transport vehicle in Stuhr south of Bremen in June 2015. The trio is suspected of having threatened the messengers with a Panzerfaust and a Sturmgewehr. They are believed to have fired multiple shots at the money transport vehicle to force the men to open the vehicle. Two shots from the Sturmgewehr penetrated the driver's cabin, but the messengers remained unharmed. The perpetrators eventually escaped without loot.
Investigations into attempted murder and multiple robberies
Since 2015, the Prosecutor's Office of Verden has been investigating Daniela Klette, Ernst-Volker Staub, and Burkhard Garweg for attempted murder and multiple robberies. Klette was arrested at the end of February in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Staub and Garweg are still being sought. They were part of the so-called third generation of the left-wing extremist Red Army Faction (RAF), which killed more than 30 people. In 1998, the RAF declared itself dissolved.
After the arrest of Klette, the investigators, according to their own statements, also seized over 450 rounds of permit-required ammunition, a revolver with a blank cartridge, and two stun guns. It is possibly that one of the stun guns was used during a robbery at a supermarket in Osnabrück in January 2015 to make two victims, including a pregnant woman, open a safe.
The authorities secured over 240,000 Euros in cash and over a kilogram of gold. Preliminary findings indicate that at least parts of this sum were obtained from the robberies. The investigators suspect that Daniela Klette exchanged larger sums of cash from the robberies. Among the seized items were also adhesive bandages, wigs, adhesive tape, masks, storm helmets, and fabric masks to hide identity. The trio is believed to have used a mobile blue light unit, handcuffs, and a walkie-talkie during their crimes to simplify escape or to fix an opener with handcuffs in one case.
The investigators are interested in knowing if anyone has information about the origins of the weapons found in Daniela Klette's apartment, as they believe that she and her accomplices, including Burkhard Garwig and suspected RAF member Ernst-Volker Staub, may have obtained them in Lower Saxony, LKA, where the investigations are being led.
The replica Panzerfaust and at least one real weapon, believed to have been used by the trio during several robberies, are suspected to have been used in a money transport vehicle robbery in Stuhr south of Bremen in June 2015.
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