The suspected Christchurch mosque gunman sent money to a French far-right group and once bought a ticket to Bavaria's "fairytale castle," German police said Thursday (local time).
The Federal Criminal Police Office confirmed that it briefed German lawmakers Wednesday on its investigation into ties the alleged Christchurch mosque attacker had to Germany.
The closed-door briefing included information German police had about money that the suspect transferred to the Generation Identity group in France. The far-right group which espouses a white nationalist ideology has spread to other European countries since its founding in 2012.
Federal police declined to elaborate, but the German news agency dpa reported that the suspect transferred 2200 euros ($3650) in September 2017.
Austrian authorities have already said the suspect donated 1500 euros ($2500) to Generation Identity's sister organisation, the Identitarian Movement of Austria. The group's head, Martin Sellner, has confirmed he exchanged emails with the suspect but denies involvement in the attack.
New Zealand police have said that the suspect will face 50 murder charges and 39 attempted murder charges in his second court appearance on Friday.
German police said the suspect used his credit card last November to pay for a ticket to Neuschwanstein Castle — a popular tourist destination near the Austrian border commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria in the 19th century.
At the time he was travelling around Europe with stops including Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Estonia.
In 2014 the suspect also made a payment to a German living in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, police said. It was unclear what the purpose of the payment was. Federal police said their investigation is ongoing.
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Tomorrow, does not belong to them. Doesn't belong to anyone, but certainly not to them.
Now, if a Nazi spoke eloquently in an educated accent about trains running on time, instead of mystical racial supremacy, it might be a different story.