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The investigators searched homes and campsites, stopped trains and buses, and even observed a funeral. But the ex-RAF terrorist Daniela Klette remained missing for years. How did the search go?
In the Brazilian dance club in Berlin-Kreuzberg, people probably had no idea that the friendly “Claudia”, who stopped by every now and then and took part in capoeira courses, was one of the most wanted women in the country: Daniela Klette, 65 years old, suspected RAF Terrorist wanted for numerous crimes, including attempted murder.
On Monday evening, investigators from the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA) attacked together with the Berlin police. They arrested Daniela Klette in a small apartment in an inconspicuous block on Sebastianstrasse in Berlin.
For around 30 years, Klette was a phantom for investigators. Apparently she didn’t live very hidden lately. The “underground” in which Daniela Klette was suspected was not a village somewhere in the countryside, nor was it a campsite abroad, but a lively, multicultural neighborhood in the capital. The former left-wing terrorist, who pretended to be a native Italian, is said to have even been active on Facebook, gave tutoring to children in the neighborhood, and the dance club sometimes advertised with a photo of her.
High investigative effort
Why did it take so long until Daniela Klette could be caught? After all, the effort the investigators put in was immense. For more than ten years, countless leads and clues were followed at home and abroad. A reward of 150,000 euros was even offered.
Daniela Klette, like Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who are still wanted, is considered to be part of the so-called third generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF).
The group is said to be responsible for the murders of Deutsche Bank boss Alfred Herrhausen and Treuhand boss Detlev Rohwedder in the 1990s. She is also said to have been involved in the attacks on the Deutsche Bank in Eschborn and the US embassy in Bad Godesberg.
The Federal Prosecutor General also assumes that Klette, together with Staub and Garweg, is probably responsible for the RAF’s last attack: the explosive attack on the prison in Weiterstadt, Hesse, in March 1993.
Disappeared without a trace for years
The trio then disappeared without a trace. Until a cash-in-transit truck was robbed near Stuhr near Bremen in June 2015. The masked perpetrators are said to have used an assault rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade. The getaway vehicle was found in a forest and had been set on fire. Forensics took around six months to secure sufficient DNA. It was then clear to the investigators: The perpetrators were said to have been Burdock, Staub and Garweg.
The Verden public prosecutor was responsible. And now the search for the fugitive ex-RAF terrorists fell to the LKA Lower Saxony. At that time, the investigators asked the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) whether there was still anything against Klette and the alleged accomplices from the 1990s. In fact, there was still a trial – and arrest warrants from the Federal Prosecutor General.
However, the new crimes – six robberies in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia between 1999 and 2016, which were ultimately assigned to the trio – were no longer considered terrorist crimes, but rather ordinary crime. Nevertheless, the search for the suspected ex-RAF members was now being carried out again with renewed vigor.
Countless clues
A “Special Organizational Organization” (BAO) called “Vita” was founded at the Lower Saxony LKA. The investigators began by checking previous robberies, trying to recognize certain patterns, a “modus operandi”. They discovered that the getaway cars had been purchased from used car dealers or private individuals. Payment in cash, no ID was presented. The buyers, who were said to have mostly been dust or dirt, attached great importance to the fact that the vehicles were absolutely roadworthy and had a valid MOT – they obviously didn’t want to take the risk of accidentally getting caught in a traffic stop.
Through the public search, the investigators in Lower Saxony received countless tips over the years about the three people they were looking for: Sometimes someone claimed to have seen them on a train, sometimes at a traffic light in Frankfurt am Main or at a McDonald’s restaurant on the motorway. Numerous buses and trains were stopped and people checked. But without success. The last time there was a false alarm was two weeks ago at Wuppertal Central Station.
There were also often indications of a possible whereabouts abroad. Scraps of paper from a Dutch newspaper were discovered in a getaway car. A review of cell phone data also suggested that those in hiding might live in the Netherlands. The investigators also went to Spain, but the investigation there also came to nothing.
Once, while on vacation, a German police officer thought he recognized one of the people he was looking for at a campsite in Italy. Special police forces then searched the area and stormed mobile homes. When investigators discovered that one of the people in hiding appeared to be smoking a certain brand of tobacco, surveillance measures were carried out at a store where a suspicious person regularly bought such tobacco. People hoped in vain that the person they were looking for might show up.
There was also the hypothesis that cash-in-transit vehicles are likely to be robbed especially in the run-up to Christmas, when the cash registers in the shops are full. As a result, special police forces drove along in several vans in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia in the hope that the RAF trio would strike again.
Surveillance cameras in the cemetery
In the case of Daniela Klette, the investigators took another unusual step: When her father died in Konstanz on Lake Constance a few years ago, there was hope that she might show up again at the funeral. The investigators then installed cameras in the cemetery. But this time too they were unsuccessful.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution was also involved in the search for burdock, dust and cooking waste. Previous contacts of the authority from the left-wing extremist milieu of the RAF era were visited and interviewed. At least the scene showed solidarity with those in hiding: In 2016, a poster appeared on Hamburg’s Hafenstrasse with the slogan “Freedom and happiness for Burkhard, Dani and Ernst.” The scene newspaper “Rote Hilfe” also wished those wanted “a lot of strength” and “don’t get caught.”
Cooking path and dust further submerged
In spring 2023, searches in Hamburg and Frankfurt am Main also found letters that apparently came from Burkhard Garweg. His fingerprints were found on it. The now 55-year-old remains missing, as does the 69-year-old Ernst-Volker Staub.
In the case of Daniela Klette, it was probably a tip from the public that led the investigators on the right track. In November 2023, someone got in touch – and gave the crucial tip about “Claudia” in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Reporters from the “Legion” podcast They probably came across the person they were looking for at almost the same time, but ultimately were unable to locate her. During the course of their research, they discovered the old photos from the Brazilian dance club on the Internet. An expert helped with facial recognition software.