Police foil plot to kidnap Germany’s health minister, destroy power facilities

German police have detained four German nationals suspected of having plotted to kidnap German health minister Karl Lauterbach and destroy power facilities to cause a nationwide power outage.

“The two main suspects are to have agreed with others to attack the federal health minister,” a spokesperson for the Koblenz prosecutor’s office said on Thursday, confirming a report by German broadcaster ARD.

The group behind a chat group Vereinte Patrioten -- German for United Patriots -- “intended to cause civil war-like conditions and ultimately overthrow the democratic system in Germany,” the prosecutor’s office earlier said in a statement.

It said authorities had searched 20 properties in several German states on Wednesday, confiscating weapons including guns,
ammunition and a Kalashnikov assault rifle, cash in euros and foreign currency as well as gold bars and silver coins.

The prosecutor’s office said the group had also planned to kidnap other well-known public figures but did not say who the targets were.

It has asked a judge to issue arrest warrants for the four detained suspects. A fifth suspect is still at large.