BERLIN

German police arrested three men Thursday on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization linked to the "Reich Citizens" movement, which allegedly plotted to overthrow the German government.

The suspects are accused of being members of a far-right terrorist organization and “having aimed to violently eliminate the existing state order and replace it with their own form of state," German authorities said in a statement.

The three suspects were arrested following early morning raids across three states: Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia, According to investigators, they participated in firearms training in April 2022 at a former German military shooting range.

"Based on current evidence, these shooting exercises were intended to prepare for a possible attack on the German federal parliament," the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (BLKA) and the Munich Public Prosecutor General said in a joint statement.

During the searches, authorities seized items subject to weapons laws, as well as digital storage devices as evidence. The operation involved approximately 300 police officers, including special forces units.

The latest arrests were connected to a broader investigation into the far-right "Reich Citizens" movement, whose members reject the legitimacy of the modern German state. In 2022, dozens of far-right extremists, including German aristocrat Heinrich Reuss, were arrested for alleged plans to overthrow the government by a coup.

The suspects, including former police officers, soldiers and reserve personnel, were accused of planning sensational actions such as storming the German parliament and kidnapping politicians in order to cause civil war-like conditions in the country, and eventually overthrow the government.