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CRIME

State sells killer’s car with murder weapon

German state prosecutors in Lower Saxony were forced to admit a disastrous gaffe on Friday after they sold a suspected murderer's getaway car – with the weapon still inside.

State sells killer's car with murder weapon
An international investigation to find Ali B. is ongoing. Photo: DPA

The most embarrassing part of the bungled investigation was that the car’s new owner found the weapon, prosecutor’s spokesman Jann Scheerer admitted to the Weser Kurier newspaper.

The VW Golf belonged to a 35-year-old Iraqi man named Ali B. who reportedly shot his 13-year-old daughter Souzan in the head and neck in the town of Stolzenau in December 2011. The girl had apparently moved out of the family home because of tensions with her parents.

Ali B. disappeared immediately after the daylight killing, and his car was discovered a few days later in the town of Minden.

The gun was discovered in August, but prosecutors did not reveal where and how until Friday.

Despite the use of sniffer dogs, police were unable to find the gun in the car, and prosecutors then decided to sell the car for “economic reasons” – in other words, to save on the cost of storing it.

An international search for Ali B. is still ongoing.

Police are also searching for Souzan’s mother Hazna K. who moved away from Nienburg with three sons, aged two, six and eight, after the killing. A recent search of her new apartment has shown that she and her children have now also disappeared.

The Local/bk

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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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