Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

OFFBEAT

Thief in Kassel saws down tree in effort to steal €2,000 bike

A yet unknown thief used a saw to cut down a tree at the weekend in the central German city of Kassel in order to steal an expensive mountain bike.

Published: 21 June 2018 17:28 CEST

Thief in Kassel saws down tree in effort to steal €2,000 bike

Illustrative image of a bike locked to a tree. Photo: DPA

The 28-year-old owner of the bike had locked it to a tree at Kassel’s Friedrichsplatz on Friday only to notice it had disappeared we he returned to it on Tuesday.

But it wasn’t just the bike which was missing. A significant portion of the tree was missing too.

The tree was 13-years-old and had a circumference of 50 centimetres, a police spokesperson said on Thursday.

Based on how the stump looked, the perpetrator must have had a good idea of how to professionally fell the tree so that it fell in the right direction, the Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) reported on Wednesday.

According to the environmental administrative office, damage to the tree amounts to €5,000.

The 28-year-old coughed up €2,200 for the bike when he purchased it in 2015.

FOR MEMBERS: What crimes are committed in Germany and where is criminality most common?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

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

Url copied to clipboard!