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Revision as of 08:28, 30 October 2003 by Chris 73 (talk | contribs) (Added some more details, partially from the german Misplaced Pages)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (Border protection group 9) is the German counter-terrorism unit. The unit forms part of the police, and has normal police authority.
The unit was established in 1972 under the leadership of general Ulrich K Wegener, after the police failed miserably in dealing with the "Munich massacre" - a terrorist action carried out by the Black September movement during the 1972 Summer Olympic Games.
The GSG 9 is considered to be among the best counter-terrorism units in the world. Different than the Spezialeinsatzkommandos (SEK) (sort of a German SWAT team), which are organized by the States, the GSG 9 is an organization under the federal ministry of the interior. The group itself consists of three sub-groups, GSG-9/1 for regular counter-terrorism (100 members), GSG-9/2 against maritime terrorism (100 members), and GSG-9/3 against airborne terrorism (50 members).
The probably most well known mission of the GSG 9 was the liberation of the hostages of the RAF group in the Lufthansa flight 707 Landshut in Mogadishu, Somalia in the night from the 17th to the 18th October 1977. For Details of the hijacking see RAF.
Publicly known missions
- 17. Oktober 1977: Liberation of the hostages of the RAF group in the Lufthansa flight 707 Landshut
- 1982: Arrest of the RAF Terrorists Mohnhaupt und Schulz
- 27. Juni 1993: Arrest of the RAF Terrorists Hogefeld and Grams in Bad Kleinen. Some people believed that Grams was executed in revenge for the death of a policeman Newrzella during the mission, although he most likely committed suicide.
- 1993: Ending the hijacking of a KLM flight to Düsseldorf
- 1994: End of a hostage situation in the Kassel Penitentiary
- 1994: Involved in the search for the kidnappers Albert and Polak
- 1998: Arrest of a blackmailer of the German railway Deutsche Bahn AG
- 1999: Arrest of Metin Kaplan in Cologne
- 1999: Arrest of two suspected members of the Roten Zellen in Berlin
- 1999: Involved in the ending of the hijacking in the central bank in Aachen
- 2000: Advised the Philippines related to a hostage situation
- 2001: Arrested two spies in Heidelberg
- 2001: Aided in the liberation of four German tourists in Egypt
- 2001: Arrested a number of terrorists related to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
- 2002: Arrested a number of terrorists related to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
However, most of the missions are confidential and not made public. Since the founding of the GSG 9 the group has participated on over 1300 missions, yet fired shots only on 4 occasions (official count), 1977 in Mogadishu and 1993 in Bad Kleinen, and on two more missions against dogs of the persons to be arrested.