German police announced Thursday that they had detained three additional suspects in an alleged far-right coup plan involving a prince, which has resulted in the prosecution of 27 people.
Prosecutors claim the scheme discovered in 2022 aimed to attack the German parliament, grab power, and install nobleman and industrialist Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss as head of state.
The plot was supposedly an offshoot of the German Reichsbürger, or Citizens of the Reich, a radical and gun-loving movement that opposes the validity of the present German republic.
Those engaged are believed to have drawn inspiration from conspiracy theories, such as the global QAnon movement, and created “lists of enemies”.
The three men arrested Thursday are part of a group of six suspected of “belonging to a terrorist organisation” and of “preparation of high treason”, police and prosecutors in Munich said in a statement.
About 300 police operatives took part in the operation that saw raids on locations in the states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia.
In December 2022, authorities apprehended Reuss and other major suspects in the conspiracy.
27 suspected ringleaders, including Reuss, are currently under trial in Munich, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt.
Those arrested on Thursday are accused of participating in guns training at a former army base in Bavaria in April 2022.
Prosecutors believe the training was part of a plan to attack the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, in Berlin.
Aside from Reuss, the alleged plot included an ex-politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a former army lieutenant colonel, and an ex-soldier from the KSK special forces unit.
