German lawmakers said Monday they were fully investigating a suspected coup plot uncovered last week when police detained dozens of people linked to the far-right Citizens of the Reich movement.
Prosecutors said the 24 Germans and one Russian detained last Wednesday are suspected of being members of or supporting a “terrorist organization” that was planning to overthrow the government.
The detainees planned to form 280 armed units across Germany that would be tasked with “arresting and executing” people after a coup, German news agency dpa reported, citing a report given to lawmakers.
“Obviously there were plans that, based on the scale of their intentions against our liberal democracy, are shocking,” said Konstantin von Notz, a Green Party lawmaker.
“The evidence that has been collected now needs to be thoroughly reviewed,” he said after a meeting with federal prosecutors. “But what is known so far, what has already been presented to the judiciary committee today by the attorney general, are significant facts that are extremely worrying.”
Prosecutors informed lawmakers about the seizure of a huge number of “non-disclosure agreements” from people whom the alleged conspirators had tried to recruit, according to the dpa news agency.
Left-wing lawmaker Clara Buenger told dpa that investigators also reported finding more than 400,000 euros ($422,000) in cash, gold and silver coins, satellite phones and even evidence of a safe full of gold bars.
Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting with Parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, Von Notz stressed that “many questions have been answered and many remain unanswered.”
He and other lawmakers compared the situation to the storming of the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors say some of the people arrested last week had plans to enter the German Parliament, or Bundestag, armed.