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Hand grenade, other dangerous objects found during arrest of former leftist militant, German police say

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Daniela Klette, 65, was arrested on Monday afternoon in Berlin after more than three decades in hiding.
Police found a hand grenade and other dangerous items during a search of her apartment.
She is accused of participating in robberies between 1999 and 2016 with two other suspected ex-members of the Red Army Faction, Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg.

A hand grenade and other dangerous objects were found in searches of the Berlin apartment where a suspected former member of the left-wing militant Red Army Faction group was arrested this week after more than three decades in hiding, police said Thursday.

Daniela Klette, 65, was arrested on Monday afternoon. While much about her whereabouts in the past 30 years remains unclear, she apparently had been living in the German capital under a false name for some time.

Klette is accused of participating in a string of robberies between 1999 and 2016, after the Red Army Faction was disbanded. She is suspected of robbery and attempted murder together with two other suspected ex-members of the group who remain on the run, Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg.

FORMER LEFTIST MILITANT ARRESTED AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS ON THE RUN, GERMAN AUTHORITIES SAY

The Red Army Faction, which emerged from German student protests against the Vietnam War, killed 34 people and injured hundreds.

The group launched a violent campaign against what members considered U.S. imperialism and capitalist oppression of workers. It declared itself disbanded in 1998.

Police said on Tuesday that an initial search of Klette’s apartment turned up two magazines and ammunition that would fit a handgun, but no weapon.

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On Wednesday evening, they evacuated the seven-story building and closed the street in the city’s Kreuzberg district as they brought out the grenade and other unspecified objects. Early Thursday morning, Berlin police wrote on social network X that their work was complete and residents could return.

The case in which Klette was arrested covers only the robberies after the group’s disbanding, which authorities believe were meant to finance the three suspects’ lives underground rather than being politically motivated.

But federal prosecutors say an arrest warrant they issued long ago for Klette related to alleged activities with the Red Army Faction in the early 1990s remains valid.