Hunt for Baader-Meinhof fugitives intensifies in Berlin

German police briefly detained several people on Sunday (3 March) in Berlin during a manhunt for two members of the far-left militant Baader-Meinhof gang, who have been on the run for more than 30 years.

Police have been seeking Ernst-Volker Staub, 69, and Burkhard Garweg, 55, from the radical anti-capitalist group also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF).

The search for the two men had intensified in the last days, after Monday’s arrest of Daniela Klette, 65, the third member of the long-sought-after trio from RAF that carried out several bombings, kidnappings and killings that traumatised Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.

Police initially announced the arrests of two men on Sunday but later said that further arrests had been made.

However, subsequent identity checks have confirmed that “they are not the people sought,” a police spokesman said, adding that those arrested have been released.

Since the RAF disbanded in 1998, Klette and the two fugitives were believed to have been financing their lives on the run through robberies of money transporters and supermarket cash heists.

Klette, the only woman tagged as “dangerous” on Europol’s most-wanted list, was arrested on Monday in Berlin on suspicion of attempted murder and various serious robberies between 1999 and 2016.

Following the breakthrough, police said they believed the two remaining fugitives were also hiding in the German capital.

Police on Saturday published new photos that they said were very likely recent photos of Garweg.

Among the photos believed to have been taken between 2021 and 2024 was a clear frontal view of the alleged fugitive, sitting in between two dogs on a sofa.

Police said it “could not be ruled out” that Garweg and Klette had maintained “personal and direct” contact.