Police in Germany have seized a "functional" bomb and several model airplanes that neo-Nazis allegedly wanted to use in an attack against left-wing activists, officials said today.
The flying bomb was discovered last week when police, following a tipoff, raided the homes of four suspects and a neo-Nazi meeting place in southwestern Germany, prosecutors in the city of Freiburg said.
Although the plans appeared to be at a very early stage, the target was clear, Wolfgang Maier, a spokesman for the Freiburg prosecutor's office, told The Associated Press. "They want to use it against left-wing or anti-Nazi activists."
A 23-year-old man with known links to far-right extremists was arrested on suspicion of commissioning the bomb. A 42-year-old man alleged to have built the bomb was detained but later released on bail. Police are also investigating two other men, aged 22 and 24, with far-right links as part of the case.
The main suspect, who wasn't named, had previously thrown a firework at anti-Nazi counter-demonstrators during a protest by a fringe far-right party on August 31, prosecutors said.
Five people suffered what officials described as "acoustic trauma" in that incident.
But the bomb-rigged plane could have caused considerably more harm had it been used, said Maier.
"It could have caused damage in a 20-30-meter radius," he said.
According to official figures, Neo-Nazis committed over 800 violent crimes in Germany last year.
