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CRIME

Fleeing man drives car into house

A man being chased by the police drove his car into a house at full speed on Saturday night. Police found drug utensils on him.

Published: 21 February 2010 13:47 CET
Fleeing man drives car into house
Not the car in question. Photo: DPA

The 26-year-old suddenly accelerated away from a police check on Saturday night and raced through the small town of Oranienburg in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

The police gave chase, but the man soon lost control of the car on the icy road and crashed into a two-storey house.

The inhabitants of the house escaped injury, but had to leave it as a supporting wall had been damaged by the crash. After the fire service and a technical support team added additional support, the inhabitants were able to return.

The 26-year-old miraculously also escaped injury. He was found to be over the alcohol limit, had no valid driving license, and was in possession of utensils for drug preparation and consumption, police said.

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CRIME

Germany charges sixth suspect in health minister kidnap plot

German prosecutors said Wednesday they had charged a sixth suspect in a far-right plot to kidnap the health minister and overthrow the government in protest against Covid-19 restrictions.

Published: 17 April 2024 11:49 CEST
Germany charges sixth suspect in health minister kidnap plot

The 61-year-old man was charged with “the preparation of a treasonous enterprise and membership in a terrorist organisation”, Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement.

The group intended to strike several parts of the energy grid to provoke a “nationwide power outage lasting several weeks” that would provide cover for a coup attempt, investigators said.

The alleged plotters planned to abduct Health Minister Karl Lauterbach “at gunpoint”, potentially killing his bodyguards in the process.

During the coronavirus pandemic, some of the fiercest opponents of the government’s anti-virus measures were far-right activists who reject Germany’s democratic institutions.

Lauterbach had become a hate figure for the group because of the pandemic restrictions including the requirement to wear facemasks in public places that he had ordered.

“The kidnapping of a high-ranking federal government official was intended to demonstrate the group’s determination and capabilities,” prosecutors said.

The latest suspect was said to have “participated in meetings of the group and worked on the concretisation of the plans”.

The man allegedly declared himself ready to participate in the kidnapping of Lauterbach, prosecutors said.

He also offered his garage in the region south of Frankfurt to a group ringleaders as a weapons store, investigators said.

The senior plotter was arrested in April 2022 and the arms – two AK-47 assault rifles and four Glock pistols – were never deposited.

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The new suspect also offered to “sail” to Russia after the planned coup “as a member of a delegation to negotiate an ‘alliance’ with Russian state authorities and to procure military equipment”, prosecutors said.

Five other members of the group went on trial in Koblenz in May 2023.

The group intended to replace the government with an authoritarian system “modelled on the constitution of the German Empire of 1871”, according to investigators.

The belief that the German government is illegitimate is current among members of the far-right Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement, which has attracted a growing number of followers.

The organisers of another alleged far-right plot to topple the government were arrested in raids at the end of 2022.

The trial of the suspected ringleader, the aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss, will open in Frankfurt in May.

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