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CRIME

Car and mobile phone of kidnapped banker’s wife found

Police said the black Mercedes A-Class car and mobile phone belonging to the wife of a senior banker kidnapped this week have been found, as the search for 54-year-old Maria Bögerl continued Saturday.

Car and mobile phone of kidnapped banker’s wife found
Photo: DPA

Bögerl was being held to ransom of several hundred thousand euros. She is the wife of Thomas Bögerl, Sparkasse banking chief in the Heidenheim region of Baden-Wüttemberg.

Bögerl’s parked car was spotted Friday evening about 20 kilometers away at the Neresheim Abbey. Police said the car is being examined by forensics and confirmed that the phone found Wednesday afternoon belonged to Maria Bögerl.

“The longer it takes, the more critical this situation becomes,” a police spokesman told mass circulation daily Bild.

More than 400 police officers were still combing through the woodland area near the A7 motorway on Saturday. Three helicopter equipped with infrared cameras, as well as sniffer dogs, were also dispatched for the search.

“I hope very much that this distressing uncertainty will end soon and that Mrs. Bögerl will return to her family unharmed,” said Heidenheim Mayor Bernhard Ilg.

Bild reported that Thomas Bögerl spoke with his wife by phone and she told him the kidnapper or kidnappers were threatening to kill her. Less than an hour after Bögerl was snatched, her husband received a call from a kidnapper. He was ordered to leave the ransom money on the A7 motorway near Heidenheim, marked with a German flag.

He followed the orders but the money – reportedly several hundred thousand euros – was not collected.

“Despite all the demands being fulfilled, there was no handover,” an investigator told Bild.

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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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