The leader of a neo-Nazi organization surrendered to police yesterday after an intensive manhunt that began with the discovery of 30 arms caches used by violence-prone neo-Nazi and extreme rightwing groups in the state of Lower Saxony several weeks ago.
The object of the manhunt was Volker Heidel, 27, described by police as leader of the Peoples Socialist Movement which has been agitating for years against Jews and foreign workers in West Germany. Two members of the group were killed in a gun battle with police near Munich last month and several others were arrested. One of the latter had received training in terrorist tactics by El Fatah in Lebanon. The gang was on its way to rob a bank when waylaid by the police.
Heidel went underground. Police searched his home in Lueneburg, Lower Saxony in the course of a crackdown on neo-Nazi groups after the arms caches were discovered. A score of books and pamphlets containing Nazi propaganda material was confiscated.
Heidel, who publishes a neo-Nazi newspaper, The Observer of Lower Saxony, has a long record of arrests for violent acts. Most recently he drew a two year and nine month sentence for attacks on court buildings in Hannover and Flensburg. He appeared at his trial dressed in black shirt and trousers, a facsimile of the Nazi SS uniform. He was released from prison last March.
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