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CRIME

Germany to extradite ‘girl in boot’ kidnap suspect

German authorities are expected to extradite to France a man accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old girl from her home in southern France. The investigation will also now include allegations of rape.

Germany to extradite 'girl in boot' kidnap suspect
Photo: DPA

The teenager was found on Friday in the boot of a car in the German city of Offenburg, close to the French border, after her disappearance from her home in the village of Barjac in the Gard region sparked a nationwide hunt.

She was only found by accident by German police after they tried to stop the car and the driver crashed. The girl was tied up in the boot.

The 32-year-old driver of the car was held by police initially on suspicion of kidnapping.

The head prosecutor in Offenburg, Herwig Schäfer, said he expected the regional appeals court in Karlsruhe to decide on the matter “within a few weeks.”

At a press conference on Monday, Schäfer said the suspect had been driving a stolen car in the village and came across the girl by chance.

“By chance at that moment she was coming home, he saw her and decided to kidnap her,” he said, adding that the suspect had provided very little other information to investigators.

A French judicial source said Monday that rape charges had been added to the probe, though investigators have refused to confirm whether the girl was sexually assaulted, citing the ongoing investigation and a desire to protect the victim.

The girl is now back at home with her family. Her father told journalists on Saturday how proud he was that she had kept a cool head during her week-long ordeal.

“She was strong-willed,” the Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace newspaper quoted him as saying. “She remembered a number of details and knows the car’s licence plate number by heart.”

Chloe’s father said he had expected her to arrive home a complete wreck, but that “she acted as if she had come back from holiday.”

But the teenager’s mother said her daughter was “completely emotionally and physically exhausted. After all, she is still a child. She cried a lot.”

AFP/DPA/The Local/arp

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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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