German police have raided properties in 10 states and arrested members of a far-right group after it was banned by the government.

The United German Peoples and Tribes organisation belongs to the broader Reichsbürger or Citizens of the Reich movement, which rejects the authority of the modern German state and is driven by conspiracy theories. It is armed and considered extremely dangerous, the police said.

An interior ministry spokesman said on Thursday that its fight against rightwing extremism would not be halted even during the current global health emergency. “For the first time, the interior ministry has banned a Reichsbürger group,” the spokesman said. “Even in these days of crisis, we will continue to fight far-right extremism, racism and antisemitism.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, where the group had its focus, said: “These people cannot consider themselves safe even in these times of the coronavirus.” He said he was grateful to the federal interior minister, Horst Seehofer, “for allowing us to proceed against this brown sauce”, in a reference to their Nazi-sympathies.

He described the group as a danger to society. “These people deny the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany and agitate against Jews and foreigners,” said Reul. “This is the right moment to go after people who spread such conspiracy theories. There is no tolerance towards them, only a hard line of action.”

Similar to the sovereign citizen movement in the US, the Reichsbürger movement rejects the modern state, arguing that Germany is not a country but a company. They refuse to recognise German laws, evade taxes and fines and have their own currency. They also mix Holocaust denial with conspiracy theories.

Police seized, computers, weapons and ammunition, baseball bats, propaganda literature and drugs during the dawn raids, officers said.

The group has a core membership of just 21 people nationwide, and a further 100 followers. The wider movement counts thousands more members, most of whom are males between 40 and 60 years old.

Sensitivity toward the group’s existence has grown since the terror attack last month in the city of Hanau when a suspected extremist shot dead nine people, all of whom were from migrant backgrounds. The gunman was not a member of the group, but shared certain tendencies with its members.

After the shooting, Seehofer declared war on the far-right extremist scene. He said it was the biggest security threat Germany faced and that it had left a “trail of blood” across Germany in recent months.

An antisemitic attack on a synagogue in Halle in October and the murder of a pro-refugee politician at his home last June have also heightened awareness of the phenomenon.

Seehofer announced an increase in police measures as a result, including more resources to fight extremism online, and has signalled a willingness to tighten gun ownership laws.