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She was part of a feared terrorist group that terrorized the population for decades.
For over 30 years she has eluded the police.
Now “Europe’s most dangerous woman” has been arrested after a TV show.
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For 20 years, “Claudia” is said to have lived in an inconspicuous apartment in the district of Kreuzberg in the German capital, Berlin.
The woman of newly retired age has lived with a partner of the same age and always says hello to the neighbors when she is out with the dog, according to information to Bild.
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full screenDaniela Klette was arrested after 30 years on the run. Photo: Interpol
Belonged to horror group
At the same time, she has been one of Europe’s most hunted criminals.
Actually, the friendly neighbor was 65-year-old Daniela Klette.
She is the only woman on Europol’s list of most wanted criminals who has been designated as dangerous.
During the 1980s and 90s, Klette was a member of the “third generation” of the terrorist group Baader-Meinhof League, which terrorized the population during a series of bloody acts.
The Left League, which was most active in the 70s, continued its activities even after the founders who gave the group its name died.
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full screen Klette lived in an inconspicuous apartment in Berlin. Photo: AFP
Bombed and shot
Daniela Klette is believed to have been involved in the 1993 bombing of a prison under construction in Hesse.
Five members of the group climbed over the fence, tied up and led away the guards, returned and blew up the prison building.
Her group is also suspected of a car bomb that killed a former bank manager, attacks on US military in Germany and the attack on the US embassy in Bonn in 1991.
During the entire time since then, Klette and her terrorist associates have been on the run and managed to elude the police.
The league shut down operations in 1998, but Klette and two other members are believed to have financed their lives on the run with a number of high-profile robberies.
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full screen Her group is suspected, among other things, of a car bomb that killed a bank manager in 1989. Photo: Alamy
TV programs were the turning point
Among other things, the trio allegedly tried to rob a cash transport near Bremen in 2016.
Then armed and masked robbers attacked and shot at the guards. However, they were forced to flee without their loot since the guards managed to lock themselves in the armored transport, which contained euros worth just over ten million kroner.
Since then, league members are believed to have been lying low. And the police have been stomping in pursuit of them.
A German “Wanted”-type television program last year was the turning point in the investigation.
After the attention to the program, and perhaps mainly the reward of 150,000 euros, the police received 250 tips regarding Daniela Klette and her two accomplices on the run Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg.
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full screen Photo: AP
Found hiding in the apartment
The tip about Klette came in last November. The police began an investigation into the woman with the dog in the gray apartment building.
It was realized that she was living under a false identity and allegedly had a fake Italian passport.
When she was arrested, she was alone in the apartment. Police found ammunition and two magazines for a gun hidden among her belongings.
The female terrorist surrendered without resistance.
Now the police will try to piece together Klette’s years on the run and how she managed to elude the police for so long.
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full screen Phantom images of Klette on the right and her two companions Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who have not yet been found.
“Fantastic success”
Daniela Behrens, Minister of the Interior in Lower Saxony, where the investigation against the trio was conducted, calls the arrest “a fantastic success” and that “it sends a message that terrorists in Germany can never feel safe”. writes The Guardian.
– It is also a message to the victims of terrorism that terrorist acts are not forgotten, she says.
Now the hunt for Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg continues.
Earlier in February, special forces stormed the train station in Wuppertal following a tip-off that Staub had been seen on a train. But the police found nothing and it could never be confirmed that the wanted terrorist was ever on the train.
Daniela Klette is now in custody in the city of Verden in Lower Saxony, awaiting prosecution.