Series of Crimes Linked to Germany's Neo-Nazi Groups

2012-08-17 26

Series of Crimes Linked to Germany's Neo-Nazi Groups - as part of the news series by GeoBeats.

German intelligence forces are re-evaluating their focus after neo-Nazi groups have been linked to several murders and bank robberies. Law enforcement had been so focused on perceived Islamic terrorist threats that last year an annual intelligence report by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution reported that “no structures of right-wing terrorism were detectable,” according to the Washington Post. After a botched bank robbery provided police with new information, ten murders including that of a female police officer, along with over 12 other bank robberies, are being tied to a neo-Nazi group called the National Socialist Underground or NSU.

The only surviving NSU suspect currently in police custody tried to burn down her shared apartment, but she left behind lots of evidence that map out NSU’s alleged crimes.

German security service officers reportedly destroyed files that were relevant to the case, stirring up controversy. Although the German government has said that it was a routine purge of files, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution resigned after the incident.