The suspect, a German-Polish man only partially named as Martin S., was detained late Monday in the western city of Dortmund, prosecutors said in a statement.
A source close to the investigation told AFP that the man had acted alone, was linked to a right-wing conspiracy theorist movement, and that Merkel and Scholz were among those on his hit list.
The man had allegedly issued anonymous calls since June for attacks on public figures and government officials, the Public Prosecutor's Office said.
He had also published instructions for building explosive devices and requested donations in cryptocurrencies, to be used as "bounties" for the killings.
Prosecutors said he had posted "death sentences pronounced by himself" as well as the "sensitive personal data of potential victims".
He is being investigated on charges including financing terrorism and inciting violence aimed at endangering the state, and was set to face the Federal Court of Justice later on Tuesday.
Spiegel Online reported that the 49-year-old suspect had listed 20 targets, also including judges and prosecutors, on a site he had labelled "Assassination Politics", which was filled with far-right content and conspiracy theories, some related to the coronavirus pandemic.
German authorities have, in recent years, increasingly moved against a conspiracy theorist movement known as the "Citizens of the Reich" or "Reichsbürger".
The movement, which rejects the legitimacy of the modern German republic, was long dismissed as a group of malcontents and oddballs, but is now considered a security threat by German authorities.
READ ALSO: Who are 'Reichsbürger' and how big a threat do they pose in Germany?
In 2022, members of a group including an ex-MP and former soldiers were arrested over a plot to attack parliament, overthrow the government and install aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss as head of state.
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