German police make arrests in decades-long hunt for Red Army Faction fugitives

Issued on: 03/03/2024 – 10:43

1 min

It remained unclear if the two detained men were Ernst-Volker Staub, 69, and Burkhard Garweg, 55, from the radical anti-capitalist group also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF).

The search for the two men had intensified in the last days, after Monday’s arrest of Daniela Klette, 65, the third member of the long-sought-after trio from RAF that carried out several bombings, kidnappings and killings that traumatised Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Shots were fired in relation to the opening of a door, there were no injuries,” police spokeswoman Ulrike Trumtrar told AFP.

“Two men were provisionally arrested in connection to this, but their identities have to be checked,” she said.

She added that she could not provide details on whether the pair fell in the age group of the two fugitives.

However, photos published by Bild daily of the arrests suggest that the two detained people were younger than Garweg and Staub. 

Since the RAF disbanded in 1998, Klette and the two fugitives were believed to have been financing their lives on the run through robberies of money transporters and supermarket cash heists.

Klette, the only woman tagged as “dangerous” on Europol’s most-wanted list, was arrested on Monday in Berlin on suspicion of attempted murder and various serious robberies between 1999 and 2016.

Following the breakthrough, police said they believed the two remaining fugitives were also hiding in the German capital.

Police on Saturday also published new photos that they said were very likely recent photos of Garweg. 

Among the photos believed to have been taken between 2021 and 2024 was a clear frontal view of the alleged fugitive, sitting in between two dogs on a sofa. 

Police said it “could not be ruled out” that Garweg and Klette had maintained “personal and direct” contact. 

(AFP)