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Exchange student ‘murderer’ stays silent

The alleged murderer of an exchange student in southern Germany stayed silent in the dock on Tuesday on the first day of his trial.

Published: 23 April 2014 08:25 CEST

Exchange student 'murderer' stays silent

Police search the area near where Gabriele's body was found in October 2013. Photo: DPA

Emil S., 41, is accused of strangling a Lithuanian student to death on October 3rd last year while she was on an exchange in Baden-Württemberg.

Gabriele Z. was studying at Mannheim University and was returning from a movie night when the builder allegedly attacked her and strangled her with a scarf.

He is also suspected of having raped and robbed her.

The 20-year-old student had only recently arrived in Germany for the year-long exchange programme and was on her way home from the film night at the university. Her body was found under a bridge in the city centre.

Emil S. is also accused of attacking and robbing a 48-year-old woman in summer 2013 as well as two girls aged 12 and 17 shortly after the death of Gabriele Z.

The trial at Mannheim Court is expected to last until mid-July.

SEE ALSO: 'Satanists' on trial for taxi driver murder

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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.

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