The suspected ex-member of a left-extremist group, Daniela Klette, was arrested in Berlin on Monday. She is one of three ex-members wanted for attempted murder and violent robberies.
Klette (65) was living in Berlin under a false identity when she was arrested by the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA NI). Yesterday she was brought before a judge in Verden, who ordered her pre-trial detention.
The LKA NI has been on the hunt since 2015 for Klette, Ernst-Volker Staub, and Burkhard Garweg, who have been living underground since the 90s.
The group was previously believed to have gone into hiding in the North of the Netherlands, particularly in the Groningen area. Earlier this month, the German authorities increased the reward for tips leading to an arrest.
The three are suspected to have been members of the now-disbanded German extremist group Red Army Faction (RAF), which mainly operated between the 1970s and 1998. The trio is wanted for crimes committed between 1999 and 2016, which the police do not believe to have been politically motivated.
The arrest is a “milestone in German criminal history”, says Interior Minister, Daniela Behrens, calling it a “masterpiece.” Though Staub and Garweg are still on the run, the authorities remain committed to finally closing the decade-long case.
“I can also assure you that all means of combating crime will continue to be used in the future to capture the two other RAF members, Staub and Garweg, who are still wanted,” says Behnrens in a statement to the press.
