German police said Thursday they had arrested three more suspects in an alleged far-right coup plot linked to a prince that has seen 27 people go on trial.
Prosecutors say the plot uncovered in 2022 aimed at attacking the German parliament, usurping power and installing aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss as head of state.
The plot was allegedly an offshoot of the German Reichsbuerger, or Citizens of the Reich, movement of extremists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.
Those involved are said to have taken inspiration from conspiracy theories, including the global QAnon movement, and drawn up “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.
Some 300 police took part in the operation that saw raids on locations in the states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia.
In December 2022, police arrested Reuss himself and other key suspects in the plot.
A total of 27 alleged ringleaders, including Reuss, are currently on trial in courts in Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt.
Those arrested on Thursday are accused of taking part in firearms training at an old army facility in Bavaria in April 2022.
Prosecutors suspect the training was in preparation for the planned attack on the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, in Berlin.
Aside from Reuss, the alleged plot also involved an ex-politician for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a former army lieutenant colonel and an ex-soldier in the KSK special forces unit.
