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CRIME

Germany stands with France in face of terror

Germany stands united with France against "terror's blind hate" and in defence of "free society", Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after a deadly attack Friday at a factory near Lyon.

Published: 26 June 2015 14:08 CEST
Germany stands with France in face of terror
President Francois Hollande during a press conference about the attacks on Friday (l) and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Photos: DPA

Germany and Spain condemned Friday's deadly suspected Islamist attack on a gas factory in their neighbour France, branding it “heinous” and vowing to stay united against “barbarism”.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims' families and see ourselves as united with France in defence of our free society against terror's blind hate,” Steinmeier said in a statement.

The foreign minister said he was appalled by the “shocking news of a heinous murder and an assault with several injured”.

LIVE: Man decapitated in terror attack in France

He called it an “act of terror and fanaticism which we condemn in the strongest terms”.

Meanwhile, Peter Altmaier, the head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, tweeted in French that the attack “recalls once again European common values,” and offered “all solidarity and our condolences”.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said that investigators from Germany's Federal Police (Bundeskriminalamt) were already in “close co-operation” with their colleagues in France, the Saarbrücker Zeitung reported.

“I firmly condemn the attack carried out in Lyon. Barbarism will always be confronted by unity among democrats. #Spain with #France,” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wrote in a message on Twitter.

A severed head was pinned to the gate of the factory near Lyon in southwestern France during what French President Francois Hollande described as a “terrorist attack”.

Several other people were also injured in the attack, in which a suspect set off several small explosive devices, sources close to the investigation said.

The suspect arrested in connection with the attack was investigated nine years ago for radicalization and has links to the Salafist movement, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said later.

The killing came nearly six months after the Islamist attacks in and around Paris that killed 17 people in January, starting with a shooting at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

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LIVE: Man decapitated in terror attack in France

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CRIME

German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

German police said Wednesday they had arrested 11 suspected members of a Nigerian mafia group behind a large-scale dating scam.

Published: 25 April 2024 09:35 CEST
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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