E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

German far-right terror suspects planned Christchurch-style mosque attacks
Following up on the arrests of a few days ago.
[IsraelTimes] Media reports say an infiltrator into group tipped off police to preparations to use semi-automatic weapons in a copycat attack.

Members of a far-right group arrested in Germany as part of a massive counter-terrorism investigation were planning large-scale attacks on mosques similar to the ones carried out in New Zealand last year, media reported on Sunday.

The group, 12 of whom were detained on Friday, wanted to attack Moslem places of worship during prayers, Der Spiegel magazine and the daily Bild said.

They planned to imitate the attacks in Christchurch in New Zealand in which 51 people were killed at two mosques and intended to use semi-automatic weapons.

The alleged leader of the group, which was known to the authorities and had been under observation, had detailed his plans at a meeting organized with his accomplices last week.

Investigators learned about it from someone who had infiltrated the group, the two publications said.

Investigators launched the raids to determine whether the suspects already had weapons or other supplies that could be used in an attack.

German authorities have turned increased attention to the country’s underground extreme right scene since the murder of conservative local politician Walter Luebcke last June and an October attack on a synagogue in eastern city Halle.

German far-right 'terror cell' met on WhatsApp: report

[DW] The alleged members of the terror network arrested in Germany last week called themselves "The Hard Core" and reportedly had links with a Finnish far-right group. A home-made scatter rifle was found during the raids.

A group of German nationals formed a "terror cell" which they dubbed "Der harte Kern" (German for "The Hard Core"), the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday.

Prosecutors say the men wanted to cause "circumstances akin to civil war" by plotting "yet-unspecified attacks against politicians, asylum-seekers and Moslems."

Authorities arrested 12 men in a series of raids in several German states on Friday. Germany's Federal Court of Justice, the highest criminal court in the country, ordered the men on Saturday to remain in jail while the investigation continues.

Four of the detainees are suspected of forming a right-wing terrorist organization and the remaining eight of pledging their support, including funding, supplying of weapons, or cooperation in any terror plots.

ONE SUSPECT MISSING
Welt am Sonntag reported that the men became introduced through the Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp, with the alleged members forming the organization in September last year. One more man was believed to be a part of the group, but he remains on the lam.

According to the paper, the Sherlocks also discovered links with the extremist group Soldiers of Odin, which was founded in Finland in 2015, amid the Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Union refugee crisis.

While official information remains scarce, local media also reported that the police found weapons while raiding a total of 13 residences across six German states on Friday. The weapons included a so-called slam gun, a home-made scatter rifle, similar to the one owned by the anti-Semitic gunman who tried to attack the synagogue in Halle last October and instead killed two passers-by.
Posted by: trailing wife 2020-02-17
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=563706