BERLIN (Reuters) - German criminal police chief Holger Munch said on Friday that investigations and evidence gathered in the raids had raised the number of suspects involved in the coup attempt to 54, while the German parliament plans to conduct security reviews after the arrest of a former lawmaker on suspicion of her participation in a plot to overthrow the government.

This comes as prosecutors in Germany began extradition proceedings against two men who were arrested during raids against members of the far-right "Reichscitizens" movement in Austria and Italy.

It was not clear after when the two men could appear before the investigative judges of the German Supreme Court.

Earlier Friday, German domestic intelligence confirmed that a heavy blow had been dealt to the "Reich Citizens" organization.

"It was a heavy blow to the 21,000-strong armed group of Reichswehr," the head of Germany's domestic intelligence service, Thomas Hadenfang, told ZDF.

"This group committed more than 1,000 crimes last year, and we have been monitoring them since the spring of this year and know their plans," Hadenfang added.

The intelligence official pointed out that the "Reichs Citizens" movement has the appropriate skills acquired from German military units, and that some of the organization's detainees came from the army.

Hadenfang explained that the organization's members are fond of weapons and have an arsenal of legal and illegal weapons, and that there are still enough weapons in their possession, especially from army stores, considering that the scene can be "extremely violent."

The authorities accuse the far-right "Reich Citizens" movement of involvement in the scheme, and it does not recognize the existing German political system, nor the German state in its current form, and recognizes - in return - the German Empire that collapsed in the First World War, as it looks respectfully at Nazism that ended in World War II.


Security ratings

In a related context, the German parliament intends to conduct security reviews after the arrest of a former deputy on suspicion of participating in a plot to overthrow the government, according to a vice-president of the Bundestag on Friday.

"We will carefully examine the security provisions of the Bundestag that we have to amend," Katrin Göring-Eckhardt of the Greens told the Funke media group.

Birgit Malsach-Winkmann, a judge and former member of parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany party between 2017 and 2021, was among those arrested in the police raids on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that the presence of a former representative of the AfD party among the defendants was an "amazing and very serious incident".

The Alternative for Germany party - which currently occupies 78 seats out of 736 in the Bundestag (parliament) - sought to distance itself from the alleged coup attempt.

"We condemn and reject such efforts," the party leadership said in a statement, but some of its members had other opinions.

The same party MP Peter Bystron wrote on Twitter that the raids were "one of the biggest abuses of power" in German history.


Continuing arrests

Speaking to state TV station Deutschlandfunk on Thursday, Georg Meyer, the top security official in Thuringia state, said he expected a second wave of arrests as authorities reviewed the evidence.

Meyer accused the AfD of fueling conspiracy theories, which motivated "conspirators" across the country to plot the overthrow of the government.

The head of the Federal Criminal Police, Holger Munch, revealed that the security services had searched about 150 locations across the country, and that weapons were found in about 50 locations, and he also expected the raids and arrests to continue in the coming days.

Munch underestimated the group's ability, saying, "It should not be assumed that a group consisting of a few dozen (of members), perhaps a few hundred, is in a position to really challenge the state in Germany."

As for Home Secretary Nancy Weser, she said it would be wrong to underestimate such groups, especially if their members include people trained in the use of firearms, such as soldiers or police officers.


Dismantling the organization

On the other hand, the German Public Prosecutor announced yesterday, Thursday, that all those arrested are currently in pretrial detention.

Yesterday, Thursday, the German authorities announced the arrest of 25 far-right figures, including former army officers, on charges of planning to carry out a "coup", including two people who were arrested in Austria and Italy.