GERMANY | NSU probe goes on

Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 13:32

German police have requested help from law enforcement agencies in the USA in their probe into National Socialist Underground (NSU) murder gang. The Germans are hoping their US counterparts can deliver Internet data linking Beate Zschäpe, a gang member currently being held after surrendering to police, to the 10 murders the NSU committed. Of particular interest is a YouTube account belonging to Zschäpe in which she used the username “Liese1111” and from which investigators want to know what she viewed and uploaded. The Zwickau-based NSU was uncovered when terrorists Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide after a bungled bank robbery. Zschäpe turned herself in to police a few days later. In addition to the murders of nine immigrant shop owners and a policewoman, the group was also behind 14 bank robberies and two attacks involving explosives.

In a separate development, Swiss police at Zürich airport have arrested a man with suspected links to a Czech-made pistol that later became one of the murder weapons used by the NSU. Authorities say the man is being investigated on suspicion of supporting a criminal organisation. Detectives found a 7.65 mm calibre Browning in the caravan that Böhnhardt and Mundlos set on fire before taking their own lives last November. In all, the NSU had about 20 weapons, one being a ČZ 83 pistol of the same calibre with a silencer. Detectives said the gun came from a Swiss shop and believe that Swiss ultra-right extremists probably helped the NSU to acquire it.

Sunday’s edition of the mass tabloid Bild am Sonntag reported that detectives erased data acquired through earlier wiretapping of the alleged NSU supporters. The head of the German Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jörg Ziercke, denies the charges, however, saying the detectives erased copies of the recordings, not the originals. However, German politicians led by German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich are demanding an investigation of the matter