At the weekend, suspected right-wing extremists deposited two homemade explosive devices at the train station in the Thuringian municipality of Straussfurt, one of which had a swastika emblazoned on it. Information from the population put the police on the trail of four suspects, and house searches are now to follow.
After finding an explosive device with a swastika and another self-made explosive device at the Straußfurt train station in Thuringia, the police searched the homes of four suspects. As the Thuringian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) announced on Friday evening, raw materials for explosives production were also found in a total of five objects during the raid. The four suspects between the ages of 17 and 33 were already known to the police for minor crimes. Investigators found clues from the public.
A total of four residential properties and a garden plot in and around the municipality of Straußfurt, north of Erfurt, were searched, the LKA said. Raw materials for the production of pyrotechnics and for the production of explosives in the form of fertilizers were confiscated. No acute danger emanated from the substances, they were now being forensically examined. The officers also took various electronic data carriers, mobile phones and pyrotechnics, including so-called China firecrackers. The officers involved in the raid also “met the relevant suspects and witnesses,” the LKA statement said. Accordingly, the first interrogations took place.
On Sunday, the two explosive devices were found in a shelter next to the platform. One of these was marked with a swastika, which was on a cloth in which the explosive device was wrapped. Rail traffic in the region was temporarily interrupted by the federal police. According to LKA information, one of the explosive devices was detonated in a controlled manner, the second was defused. Both explosive devices were functional, the investigators said. State security has taken over the investigation.
