Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Viernheim bomber handed 12 years in prison

A Hessian has court handed the so-called “Viernheim bomber” a 12-year prison sentence for staging two bomb attacks in the neighbouring cities of Viernheim and Weinheim in August 2009.

Published: 22 June 2010 09:03 CEST

Viernheim bomber handed 12 years in prison

Photo: DPA

The 45-year-old construction worker admitted to the bomb attacks and was found guilty for dangerous bodily harm and violating German weapons law.

The Darmstadt court called his actions an “incomprehensible crime,” but did not believe they constituted attempted murder.

“I am a militarist,” he told the court.

The man, identified only as Jürgen K. set off an explosion at a single-family home in Viernheim, a town near Mannheim, slightly injuring the father.

He then set off an explosion in Weinheim, some five kilometres away in Baden-Württemberg, but caused no injuries.

He fled and barricaded himself in his nearby apartment wearing camouflage and a gas mask. From there he called police and threatened further explosions.

A tense 28-hour stand-off followed, with some 500 police and emergency workers evacuating the area and surrounding the building. On August 20, he surrendered and was arrested by special commando officers.

Police later removed several trucks full of explosives and weaponry from his home.

The man felt his victims had fleeced him with bills.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

The Black Axe gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity”, with a focus in Germany on romance scams and money-laundering, Bavarian police said in a statement.

The dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, police said.

“Using false identities, the fraudsters for example signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demand money under various pretexts,” police said.

The money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents”, authorities said.

In the process, the gang used a “commodity-based money laundering” scheme where products, often with a seeming “charitable purpose” were bought and delivered to Nigeria.

Some 450 cases of romance scamming had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to 5.3 million euros ($5.7 million), police said.

The suspects, who all held Nigerian citizenship and were aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday.

Law enforcement swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters, police said.

The Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units, police said.

The group had a “significant influence” on politics and public administrations, in particular in Nigeria.

Globally, the gang’s main areas of operation were “human-trafficking, fraud, money-laundering, prostitution and drug-trafficking”.

Black Axe operated under the cover of the Neo Black Movement of Africa, an ostensibly charitable organisation used as “camouflage” for the gang’s structures.

The action against Black Axe was the first of its kind in Germany, police said.

Url copied to clipboard!