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CRIME

Chief inspector found stabbed to death in garage

A chief police inspector has been found dead from stab wounds in southern Brandenburg, the state's Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Chief inspector found stabbed to death in garage
Photo: DPA

The 46-year-old’s wife discovered him dead in his garage unit at the storage complex “Friedenseck” in Lauchhammer near Cottbus on Monday evening at 8:45 pm.

“The deceased exhibited stab wounds and evidence at the scene indicates that there was a fierce battle before his death,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The officer was not on duty nor was he wearing a uniform at the time of his death.

Motives for the murder remain unclear and police have launched a manhunt in a search for the perpetrator, ministry spokesperson Peter Salendar told The Local.

“More than 50 officers are working on the case,” he said. “No witnesses have contacted police, therefore we have released a call for them to come forward.”

On Tuesday afternoon, investigators located the officer’s silver Opel Vectra car some 20 kilometres from the crime scene. They believe it was abandoned after being used as a getaway vehicle.

Anyone who saw such a car bearing the license plate OSL-B 154 near Lauchhammer on Monday evening is requested to contact police at any precinct.

Meanwhile the German government on Tuesday coincidentally called for harsher punishment for those who attack police officers, who are supposedly increasingly becoming the target of brutally violence.

Current laws are “no longer suitable,” Wolfgang Bosbach, a conservative Christian Democrat heading the parliamentary committee on interior policy, told daily Saarbrücker Zeitung. He urged increasing sentences for offenders: “Violence on duty has become the greatest problem for police.”

Jörg van Essen, legal expert for the junior partner in Germany’s ruling centre-right coalition the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), told the paper that officers have become “fair game.”

According to the paper there were some 28,000 cases of violence against public officials – an increase of 5,000 from six years earlier in 2002.

While there is no minimum sentence for violence against officers, the maximum sentence is two years, Bosbach told broadcast N-TV, calling this a “political paradox.”

“If I destroy a police cruiser then I’m threatened with up to five years,” he explained. “We are dealing with disappearance of inhibitions that we’ve never had in the past.”

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BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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