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CRIME

Gang robs cash truck with rocket launcher

Police are searching for men who witnesses say used an antitank rocket launcher to threaten and rob a truck transporting money in Dortmund on Saturday.

Gang robs cash truck with rocket launcher
File photo of a rocket launcher. Photo: DPA.

Police are searching for the four masked men that were involved in the robbery just before 7pm on Saturday evening.

The suspects reportedly blocked the armoured money truck with one car while a second vehicle came in behind to prevent the truck from reversing away, police reported on Monday.

Witnesses told police that the men threatened the truck with an antitank rocket launcher as well as automatic rifles and even shot at the car's bonnet, a Dortmund police spokeswoman told The Local.

“We are investigating whether it was a rocket launcher and cannot yet rule that out,” spokeswoman Cornelia Weigandt told The Local on Monday. “Witnesses said they saw a rocket launcher and we must look into whether that is true.”

The suspects even yelled at and threatened another passing car so that the driver would leave.

The thieves then used an angle grinder to open the truck's back door and steal the money inside. No one was injured, though the suspects also reportedly fired warning shots.

After the suspects fled the scene, police found their getaway cars abandoned, one with its engine still running and the other had been set on fire.

Both cars had been reported as stolen within the past year.

Police do not yet have much information on the suspects because they were all masked, but they are described as German-speakers.

Weigandt also told The Local that police are investigating whether there may be a connection to a similar case in Berlin last month.

A group of six masked, armed thieves tried to rob a money transport truck in a similar manner in the capital city, but when they could not open the truck's doors, they set one of their cars on fire and fled in the other. The second car was later found set on fire.

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POLITICS

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

German officials said on Thursday they had raided properties as part of a bribery probe into an MP, who media say is a far-right AfD lawmaker accused of spreading Russian propaganda.

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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