34-year-old held in pretrial detention over alleged murder-for-hire plot in Saxony-Anhalt

New commission takes up the case

The investigation is being conducted by a special commission named "JuRex" that the Saxony-Anhalt LKA set up at the beginning of May to focus on right-wing extremist youth groupings. Officials said the unit reflects growing concern over the number of such groups active in the state, including "Deutsche Jugend voran" (DJV) from Saxony-Anhalt, as well as "Jung & Stark" (JS) and "Deutsche Jugend zuerst Halle (Saale)" (DJZ).

Beyond the attempted-murder allegation, the LKA said it is also investigating the 34-year-old on suspicion of distributing anticonstitutional content on social media and thereby reaching many young people. "soll er versucht haben, über soziale Medien ein Tötungsdelikt in Auftrag zu geben," the LKA said of the alleged murder plot, while separately noting that "außerdem soll er verfassungsfeindliche Inhalte in sozialen Medien verbreitet und damit viele Jugendliche angesprochen haben."

A wider crackdown on extremist youth groups

Police in Gardelegen had previously searched premises linked to the right-wing scene in September of the previous year. "Erst vergangenen September hatte die Polizei in Gardelegen Räume der rechten Szene durchsucht," the LKA said, underscoring that investigators had already been active in the town before the new commission was created.

The LKA said security authorities across Germany are observing rising numbers of young people joining right-wing extremist youth groups. "Die Sicherheitsbehörden stellen nach Polizeiangaben bundesweit einen steigenden Zulauf zu rechtsextremistischen Jugendgruppierungen fest," the office said. Federal officials have been tracking a wave of newly formed groups since spring 2024.

Previous incidents in Gardelegen and Halle

In Saxony-Anhalt, the group "Deutsche Jugend zuerst" from Halle/Saale has long been regarded as particularly active. Several of its minor members were convicted in Berlin in connection with a brutal attack on an SPD campaign stand in December 2024, according to the LKA, an episode that has drawn national attention to the state's far-right youth scene.

The LKA announced the establishment of "JuRex" on a Thursday. "Das teilte das Landeskriminalamt am Donnerstag mit," it said, describing the unit as a response to the proliferation of extremist groupings. Officials said further investigative proceedings against the 34-year-old are ongoing alongside the detention order.

The case highlights the challenges facing German security services as they grapple with a fragmented but growing far-right youth movement that increasingly recruits and radicalises online. The LKA has not publicly identified the intended target of the alleged murder plot or any other suspects, and the investigation remains active.

The 34-year-old German suspect from Gardelegen is presumed innocent unless and until a court reaches a final conviction. German pretrial detention orders are issued at an early stage of an investigation and do not constitute a finding of guilt.