They planned a violent coup in Germany. On Wednesday, the handcuffs clicked in the Reichsbürger scene. FOCUS online draws a first, big balance after the terrorist network was dismantled.

It was one of the largest raids against the new right-wing scene of Reich citizens and self-government in Germany. On Wednesday morning, the federal prosecutor had arrested a total of 25 people in eleven federal states as well as in Italy and Austria. The raid attracted a great deal of international attention, and a government overthrow is said to have been planned.

25 people were arrested in the raid. The federal prosecutor accuses 22 of them of being members of a terrorist organization that wanted to overthrow the political system in Germany. Three other arrested people are said to be supporters. In 19 cases, the responsible investigating judges ordered pre-trial detention. The other suspects are to be brought before the judge this Thursday.

One day after the raid on a suspected terrorist network of Reich citizens, the number of accused members or supporters rose from 52 to 54. However, this number could continue to grow, said the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, on Thursday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”.

“We have identified additional individuals whose status we do not yet know exactly in relation to this group,” he added. However, the German state system was never endangered. “You don’t have to assume that a group consisting of a two-digit, maybe a small three-digit number is able to really question the state system in Germany,” Münch continued.

According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, 150 objects were searched during the major raid. As the dpa reports, weapons were found in several dozen objects. Several of the suspects have gun permits, which is one reason for the large number of special forces involved in the raid.

Among those arrested are the judge and former AfD member of parliament Birgit Malsack-Winkemann and a soldier from the Bundeswehr’s Special Forces Command (KSK). The entrepreneur Heinrich XIII is considered one of the ringleaders. Prince Reuss of Hesse. Reuss is one of the suspects who were taken into custody, as Attorney General Peter Frank said in Karlsruhe. They clung to conspiracy theories, Frank explained. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) said the investigations revealed “the abyss of a terrorist threat”.

The federal prosecutor said that soldiers and police officers were specifically targeted for the overthrow. According to the investigation, another plan was to force a small armed group into the German Bundestag.

The size of the raid is also shown by the thousands of German police deployed. 3,000 officers were involved in the searches and arrests in eleven federal states. Even international media such as the “New York Times” or “Forbes Magazine” reported on the police action.