Suspected members and supporters of a far-right terrorist group in Germany that authorities believed to be planning a violent coup have been arrested in nationwide raids.
Germany's federal prosecutor's office said on Wednesday that 25 people were arrested after searches were carried out across 11 federal states. A man referred to as a prince called Heinrich XIII, 71, is one of two alleged ringleaders who is among those detained.
The network consisted of 52 suspects who it is thought were planning an attack on Germany's parliament.
The prosecutor's office said in a statement that the group had started plotting the coup by November 2021 at the latest with "the goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of government."
The group also subscribes to conspiracy theories "consisting of narratives of the so-called Reichsbürger and QAnon ideologies," the statement said, according to a translation.
The Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement rejects the legitimacy of the modern German state which it says continues to exist in pre-World War II borders.
The federal prosecutor's office said the group could only realize its goals through "military means and violence against state representatives," including carrying out killings.
Members of the group had also made preparations to force their way into the German Bundestag with a small armed group.
The group had tried to recruit members from the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) and the police, holding at least four meetings over the summer.
In October, members of the "military arm" scouted out Bundeswehr barracks in Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria for their suitability for housing their own troops after the overthrow.
"They are firmly convinced that Germany is currently governed by members of a so-called 'deep state,'" the prosecutor's office said, adding that the group's vision was for an intervention of "a secret society" of governments, intelligence services and militaries of different states, including from Russia and the U.S.
The raids took place early on Wednesday in which more than 130 houses and apartments were searched, involving around 3,000 police officers. Suspects were arrested in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Thuringia. There were also arrests in Austria and Italy.
The suspects will appear before the Federal Court of Justice later on Wednesday and on Thursday. Newsweek has contacted the German prosecutor's office for comment.
Update 12/07/22, 4 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.
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Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
