Celebrity Chef Among Suspects in Germany Rightwing Coup Plot

By Staff, Agencies

A celebrity gourmet chef is among the latest figures to have been linked to the foiled Reichsburger coup plan in Germany, with further arrests expected as investigations continue.

Details emerging after the biggest ever national police operation against rightwing extremism indicate that suspects may have been informed in advance of the raids, in which 3,000 police officers targeted more than 150 addresses across Germany, and in Austria and Italy, making 25 arrests.

The number of suspects had risen to 54 by Friday, with more arrests expected. Weapons were found at more than 50 locations, including rifles and ammunition, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office.

The group, inspired by Reichsburger ideology that the modern German state is illegitimate, had planned to storm the Reichstag building and arrest parliamentarians before overthrowing the government and installing a regime led by a 71-year-old aristocrat as its head of state.

Frank Heppner, a star cook from Munich, who was arrested on Wednesday at a five-star hotel in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbuhel where he worked, was allegedly a member of the command staff of the military arm of the terrorist group, responsible for recruiting new members, obtaining weapons and other equipment, as well as building a bug-proof communication and IT structure. He was also tasked with running the canteen that would have provided meals for the members of the so-called “New German Army.”