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CRIME

Thieves open 1,000 beers, don’t drink any

Thieves broke into a drink shop last weekend aiming to find bottle caps that would entitle them to a high-value prize in a contest – and left more than 1,000 bottles of beer they opened untasted.

Published: 18 August 2015 10:03 CEST
Updated: 18 August 2015 15:03 CEST
Thieves open 1,000 beers, don't drink any
Opened bottles at the drinks market with non-winning bottle caps collected by police. Photo: DPA

Police in Mülheim, North Rhine-Westphalia reported on Tuesday that the thieves headed directly for the part of the shop where pallets of beer from a brewery in neighbouring Duisburg were being stored.

“Apparently, they opened well over 1,000 bottles just to get to the tokens attached to the bottle caps,” the officers wrote.

A spokesman for Trinkgut Schmidt KG told The Local that the firm didn't want to comment on the incident until the police had finished their investigation.

The first responders found dozens of non-winning bottle caps strewn around the floor of the shop – but not a single empty bottle.

Police are now appealing for witnesses who might have seen anything suspicious in the area.

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CRIME

Germany bans ‘cult-like, racist’ far-right group

German investigators carried out raids across the country on Wednesday as Berlin banned a far-right group it described as a "cult-like, deeply racist and anti-Semitic association" that sought to indoctrinate children with Nazi ideology.

Published: 27 September 2023 09:50 CEST
Germany bans 'cult-like, racist' far-right group

Police stormed 26 apartments belonging to 39 members of the Artgemeinschaft network in 12 states including Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Brandenburg.

The association counts about 150 members and has links to several far-right groups, said the interior ministry.

It uses the cover of a “pseudo-religious Germanic belief in God to spread their worldview which violates human dignity,” said the ministry.

Using Nazi-era literature, the association sought to convert the young to adopt its race theories. It also ran an online bookstore that sought to radicalise and attract non-members.

“This is a further blow against right-wing extremism and against the intellectual agitators who still spread Nazi ideologies today,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

READ ALSO: Germany bans Hammerskins neo-Nazi group

“This far-right group tried to raise new enemies of the constitution through the disgusting indoctrination of children and youths,” she added.

Germany has banned a series of right-wing extremist groups in recent months. Last week, it outlawed the local chapter of the US-based Hammerskins neo-Nazi group known for its white supremacist rock concerts.

There were some 38,800 people in the right-wing extremist spectrum in Germany in 2022, according to a report presented by the BfV federal domestic intelligence agency in June — up from 33,900 in 2021. The number considered potentially violent also rose from 13,500 to 14,000.

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