Neo-Nazi link to bombs in German apartment
January 14, 2017
The prosecutor's office in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate is investigating whether two men arrested last month for storing large amounts of explosives were members of the Old School Society (OSS), a right-wing terror group suspected of planning attacks on refugee centers and mosques, the magazine "Spiegel" reported on Saturday.
The pair - a man aged 18 from Lauterecken and another aged 24 from Mettmann near Düsseldorf - were detained on December 29.
More than a week later, almost 90 people had to be evacuated from a neighborhood of Lauterecken over safety concerns, as police removed the large cache of home-made explosives from one of the suspect's houses.
"Spiegel" said that during a police interrogation, the younger man had admitted attending an OSS meeting last summer in Rhineland-Palatinate.
He said one of the attendees had vaguely discussed carrying out an attack, asking if anyone could produce a large amount of explosives for him.
The pair told investigators the explosives were obtained to make fireworks for a private New Year's Eve party.
One of the bombs found in the flat was emblazoned with a swastika and symbol of the Nazi SS, police said.
Police believe other evidence also links the pair to right-wing extremism.
The younger suspect had posed for photos on social media wearing T-shirts emblazoned with right-wing logos. His alleged accomplice had been reported to police previously over violations of the Explosives Act and for having right-wing literature on him.
mm/tj (dpa, AFP)