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One body found in Cologne archive rubble

Early Sunday morning, rescuers retrieved one corpse from the rubble of the Cologne historical archive that collapsed Tuesday. The search continues for a second man believed to buried in as much as four metres of debris.

Published: 8 March 2009 09:46 CET

One body found in Cologne archive rubble

Photo: DPA

Complicating efforts is the extreme instability of the site, the Cologne fire department said on Sunday. Several neighbouring buildings are in danger of collapse and rainfall expected on Sunday could make the rubble even more unstable.

Rescue services are building an emergency roof over the site to prevent more moisture from seeping into the debris, which also contains priceless artefacts detailing the city’s long history.

Authorities said the body would be identified later today at a morgue in Cologne. The two young men are thought to have died in the accident, when their apartments in neighbouring buildings also collapsed with the archive. One of the men is believed to be a 17 year-old baker’s apprentice, the other a 23-year-old design student.

There is speculation the construction of a subway tunnel in front of the archive building may have contributed to its collapse. The site reportedly had repeated problems with groundwater leaking into the tunnel, which could have weakened the building’s foundations.

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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