A spokesperson for the Frankfurt police told The Local that the incident occurred on May 4th but has only made made public now, “because there was no reason to do so earlier.”

The policeman had unbuckled his Sig Sauer 226 pistol when taking a poo in the station toilet. But when he was finished discharging himself he forgot to strap his gun back on.

When he noticed his mistake a few minutes later the gun was already gone.

The police spokesperson told The Local that investigators have made no progress in the investigation and was not able to say whether the weapon had been sold on or not.

“We haven’t got a clue where the weapon is,” he confirmed.

As to the perpetrator, he said that while investigators still had no suspects in their sights “we can’t rule out that it was someone who works at the station who did it.”

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) it was most likely a fellow policeman who committed the theft, since no one else had access to the toilet.

FAZ also writes that possible conflict between police officers in the station is at the root of the mystery.

This appears to be confirmed by an anonymous note written to various newspaper outlets which lays the blame on policemen at the station.