German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has described as "very bad" the alleged involvement of a former member of parliament in the extremist Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens') group.
His remarks Thursday followed nationwide raids on Wednesday in connection with an alleged planned coup attempt. More than 50 people are under investigation, with 25 arrested.
Suspects are accused of seeking to overthrow the democratic order and seeking to install a new government as well as not ruling out the use of violence, according to a statement by the public prosecutor's office.
The fact that a former parliamentary member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Berlin judge, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, is among the accused "is of course a very remarkable and very bad incident," Scholz said on Thursday evening after consultations with the heads of Germany's regional states at the Chancellery in Berlin.
Scholz had previously been asked about the consequences to be drawn from this event. "It is clear that something is going on here," the chancellor asserted.
However, Scholz stressed that the possible consequences were now a matter of "autonomous decisions by the federal and state constitutional protection authorities, each of which weighs the matter on a legal basis."
This was a good procedure for dealing with the events, he added.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock underlined the importance of international cooperation between security authorities in view of the alleged terrorism plans.
"One of the largest police operations in the Federal Republic of Germany makes it clear that we must not be naive with regard to the danger of right-wing terror in our country," she said in Dublin on Thursday during a visit to Ireland.
Those who wanted to fight democracy from within were working together across Europe, if not worldwide, she added.
A retired former interior minister, Otto Schily, warned against over-reacting to the events.
"My subjective impression is that this rather bizarre group of nutcases does not pose a real threat to the state and society," Schily told the conservative newspaper Die Welt on Thursday.
At the same time, the 90-year-old stressed that he had no knowledge of the group's degree of organisation or potential danger.
"The fact that a putschist group is forming in Germany, working towards a coup d'état, is a new criminal phenomenon, but should not be overestimated," Schily continued. The SPD politician was federal interior minister from 1998 to 2005.
Earlier, the head of the German Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, said that there should be more vetting of security forces personnel. Former and active members of the security forces were among the suspects.
"In times like these, when we are also very much called upon as security forces, you have to be able to rely on the fact that everyone stands unreservedly behind the free democratic order," Münch said told public broadcaster ARD.
Large-scale raids involving around 3,000 police officers took place in 11 of Germany's 16 federal states on Wednesday, as well as in Italy and Austria. Over 150 locations were searched, according to figures given by Münch on Wednesday evening.
The searches continued on Thursday, with investigators trying to find out whether the suspects had hidden any other weapons.
The members of the Bundestag's Internal Affairs Committee were informed on Wednesday that two long guns, one short gun, swords and crossbows were found during the raids.
Prosecutors said that the key suspects belonged to an unnamed terrorist group linked to the Reichsbürger movement, which does not acknowledge the existence of the German state.
The group in question sought to overthrow the democratic order and install a new government, prosecutors said.
Münch went on to say that the BKA, much like many other state police forces, has had security checks for "a very, very long time."
"And I think that where it is not yet done, we will introduce it in the foreseeable future," Münch said.
