Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

World’s worst burglar locks himself in house

A would-be burglar in Bonn called the police on himself in the early hours of Saturday – after getting locked inside the house he was trying to loot.

Published: 12 October 2015 16:43 CEST

World's worst burglar locks himself in house

Photo: DPA

The 43-year-old tried to rob a family home in the west German town of Bonn, police said in a press release.

Having failed to break open the front door, the man clambered over a garden gate and entered the house through a set of patio doors, police reported.

During his raid he grabbed a Notebook and mobile phone, as well as some snacks for the journey home.

Not content with this haul, he then made for the storeroom.

But when he got there the doors slammed shut behind him – and due to a fault, could not be opened from inside.

After desperate attempts to free himself, the man finally called the police to come to his aid.

Officers rescued the sheepish burglar from the storeroom, before arresting him.

The man is already known to police in connection with past burglaries.

After officers had finished their inquiries, he was released in agreement with Bonn state prosecution. An investigation into the incident continues.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

Url copied to clipboard!