German police seized 900 rounds of ammunition, drugs, luxury watches, jewellery and €30,000 ($32,380) in cash during raids of 16 properties in two western states on Thursday, to combat organized crime.
They were also looking for evidence of links to the radical Reichsbürger scene, which denies the legitimacy of the modern German state.
The raids involved specialized police units and took place in North Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony, with properties in Osnabrück and Hanover searched, the police and public prosecutor's office in Osnabrück said later on Thursday.
Officials said a farm in East Westphalia was actually a professional cannabis plantation. Police confiscated 160 plants, 440 seedlings and around 3 kilograms of harvested marijuana.
The officials also found numerous marijuana seedlings and plants on a neighbouring property, plus 900 rounds of ammunition, including bullets for a Kalashnikov.
There were indications that the resident belonged to the Reichsbürger scene, the officials said.
Reichsbürger, or "Reich Citizens," believe that the modern German republic illegitimately replaced the German Reich that was founded in 1871 and continued under the Nazi regime until 1945. They reject the legitimacy of Germany's modern federal state and its laws.
There have been repeated raids targeting the loosely organized group, which allegedly planned to violently overthrow the German government. The plot was uncovered in 2022.
Various alleged members, including suspected ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, are currently on trial.
At the other properties searched on Thursday, the police said they found a blank-firing revolver, forged certificates for business registrations, IT equipment, illegal knives, a Taser and a knuckleduster.
The investigators have been trailing three main suspects and nine other suspects since late last year, on suspicion that they sell drugs in Osnabrück and neighbouring areas in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The gang members are professionals who organized their operations and took precautions to avoid prosecution, a police spokeswoman said.
Police noted that the legal situation regarding drugs changed in the course of the investigation, since the legalization of cannabis in April, but that the raids were still important wihin efforts to combat organized crime.
The new laws limit the amount of cannabis that can be grown but illegal cultivation can still be very lucrative, said Alexander Retemeyer, spokesman for the Osnabrück public prosecutor's office.
