The BKA wants to get to the bottom of the volcano group with one million euros – an enormous sum, as the history of public searches shows.
D The language is martial: “We are fighting back,” said Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) on Tuesday and announced: “The authorities are pulling out all the stops against left-wing extremism.” He particularly has his sights set on the so-called volcano group, which forms the… Arson attack on the power supply in Berlin at the beginning of January has known. “We are talking about terrorism here,” Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) never tires of emphasizing.
But the loud noises and the drive for action cannot hide the fact that the search for the attack is progressing rather slowly. Why else did the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) a reward of up to one million euros is offered for information that leads to the identification of the perpetrators? It seems as if the Federal Prosecutor General, who is leading the proceedings, is still in the dark three weeks after the blackout.
Denunciation has its price
That’s why the investigators are now trying a well-known strategy: They put a considerable sum on the table. Because money supposedly solves all problems, and the more, the better. Denunciation has its price.
Tips on the volcano group are particularly expensive for the authorities. For comparison: Even for information about the assassin Anis Amri, who… Terrorist attack on the Christmas market in Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz in 2016, the investigators offered “only” 100,000 euros. After Jewel robbery from the Green Vault In Dresden 2019, however, people were able to collect 500,000 euros with relevant information. It is not known whether and to whom money actually flowed.
A crooked equation reveals little loyalty to the state
Things look different in the case of Daniela Klette. The BKA offered at least 150,000 euros to her and her former RAF comrades Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub. After Daniela Klette arrested in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 2024 The BKA actually paid around 25,500 euros for the specific information that led to her capture. The sum probably results from the exchange rate of the 50,000 D-Marks promised in 1993.
If you try your hand at – admittedly crooked – mathematics, a group of volcanoes costs around 40 Daniela Klettes or two jewel thefts. If you break down this equation, you can see how low the willingness to cooperate and loyalty to the state are assessed in the private environment of the saboteurs from Berlin-Lichterfelde: they tend towards zero.
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