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CRIME

Burglars coast to €1m theme park haul

Two opportunistic burglars have had the time of their lives at Phantasialand theme park near Cologne, and without going on any of the rides. The pair snuck into the park during a party and reportedly stole almost €1 million in cash.

Published: 22 June 2015 14:37 CEST
Burglars coast to €1m theme park haul
A couple enjoying the festivities. Photo: Fantasypride

Saturday was party time at Phantasialand theme park near Cologne, as thousands of people flocked to the annual gay pride celebration Fantasypride.

But organizers will have suffered the hangover from hell on Sunday morning after finding the entire receipts of the weekend missing, according to reports in Bild.

The festival was jammed full of live music, DJs and even a wet t-shirt contest, but the main drama came from an unexpected source.

Florian and Sascha just can't contain their excitement at the festival. Photo: Fantasypride

A pair of partygoers enjoying the Phantasialand park in Cologne. Photo: Fantasypride

While the festivities were still in full swing at 11pm on Saturday night, a devious burglar duo managed to break into the ticket office via neighbouring buildings.

They then smashed a hole in the wall in order to get past the alarmed door. It didn’t take them long to make the big heist, as they knew exactly where the key to the safe was hidden.

The entire profits for the festival were inside the safe, and so the burglars got their hands on around €1 million.

By the time the guards discovered the break-in the next morning, the culprits were long gone. The police did not want to reveal whether the thieves were caught on CCTV footage.

At this early stage of the investigation only one thing seems clear – that the burglar duo must have received help from somebody on the inside, because they knew their way around so well. 

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CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

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