German, Swiss Police intervene against neo-Nazis allegedly planning terrorist attacks

Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that on 17 July the German and the Swiss Police initiated an extensive raid against members of a neo-Nazi group who allegedly have been planning terrorist attacks. Searches were performed in three states in the north of Germany and in Switzerland, but no arrests have been made yet.

The police are interested in six members of the ultra-right group "Werwolf-Kommando", which is inspired by the tactics of the Nazi sabotage units called "werewolves". According to the German Public Prosecutor’s Office, the aim of the group is to destroy the current political system in Germany and they intended to achieve this through violence, including terrorist attacks.  

In the surroundings of Bremen, Hamburg, and in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern police officers searched apartments and businesses, while in Switzerland the cells of two prisoners were searched. Police confiscated computers during their searches and a great deal of other material.

According to Spiegel Online, police have long followed these extremists and say the brains of the group are two Swiss citizens who were arrested last year in Hamburg. They are suspected of having shot a man to death in May 2012 in Zurich and are now awaiting trial in Switzerland. 

Germany takes the threat of right-wing extremists exceptionally seriously, in particular after revelations concerning a neo-Nazi group called the National Socialist Underground. Members of that group, according to detectives, murdered eight Turkish immigrants, one Greek man, and a young German policewoman between 2000 and 2007 all over Germany without anyone noticing the crimes were connected. Police did not track them down until 2011.