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Stuttgart police shoot two after officer run over

Update: An attempted arrest of drug dealers in Stuttgart on Wednesday night ended badly when a police officer was run over and two suspects were shot and severely wounded.

Published: 12 March 2015 09:10 CET
Updated: 12 March 2015 17:00 CET

Stuttgart police shoot two after officer run over

Police examine the scene following the gun battle. Photo: DPA

It emerged on Thursday that the police operation that led to an officer being run over late on Wednesday night in Stuttgart was related to drug offences.

Police in Baden-Württemberg raided addresses in three locations in an attempt to arrest five men aged between 18 and 23 suspected of dealing marijuana, amphetamines and cocaine. The police found kilos of cocaine during their search of the premises.

Police reported that they had surrounded the two criminals' car at a junction in the centre of the city late on Wednesday, as part of an operation to round up several suspects.

But the men accelerated and ran over one of the officers from the Special Response Unit (SEK) sent to detain them.

His comrades immediately opened fire, hitting both men and badly injuring them.

The policeman and both criminals were all rushed to hospital and taken into emergency surgery.

While the officer was believed to be in a critical condition, police said on Thursday morning that he was out of danger.

During the search of the vehicle, police found 4 kilograms of marijuana.

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Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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