How German police foiled plot to kidnap health minister

Admin l Monday, 28 November 2022

 

BERLIN – A group that plotted to kidnap German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach was infiltrated by an undercover officer, a court decision revealed on Monday.

The man was deployed “in the immediate environment of the accused” between November 2021 and April 2022, according to a German Federal Supreme Court ruling.

The agent from the Rhineland-Palatinate state criminal investigation office had attended meetings of the group, and had been involved in chats via the messenger service Telegram.

Four men, who allegedly formed the core of the group, have been in custody since mid-April.

The federal prosecutor’s office took over the investigation a short time later. It accuses the group of planning a nationwide blackout and a political coup along side the Lauterbach kidnapping.

The reason for the referral to Supreme Court was a regular detention review at the beginning of November. All four of the accused men remain in custody.