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CRIME

Man accused of bombing Dortmund football team bus admits to crime

A German-Russian man admitted on Monday to carrying out a bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund football team's bus in an elaborate bid to make a fortune on the stock market.

Published: 8 January 2018 12:21 CET
Man accused of bombing Dortmund football team bus admits to crime
Sergej W. in court in Dortmund on Monday. Photo: DPA.

“I deeply regret my actions,” said the man, identified only as Sergei W. in keeping with German convention in court cases to protect the identity of defendants.

In a statement handed to the court in the western German city, he insisted he did not aim to kill or hurt anyone.

The triple blast last April 11th shattered the team bus's windows and left Spanish international Marc Bartra, 26, with a broken wrist, while a police officer suffered inner ear damage.

SEE ALSO: Dortmund attack 'longest 15 mins of my life' – Bartra

Prosecutors say the three fragmentation bombs each contained up to a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of a hydrogen peroxide mixture and around 65 cigarette-sized metal bolts, one of which ended up lodged in Bartra's headrest.

After initial fears of a jihadist attack were dismissed, W. was arrested 10 days later.

Police charged the 28-year-old electrical technician with 28 counts of attempted murder as well as setting off explosions and causing serious bodily harm.

He had allegedly remotely set off the three explosive devices hidden in a hedge as the bus was leaving the team hotel for a Champions League match.

Prosecutors charge that W. had sought to profit from an anticipated plunge in the club's stock market value by cashing in on so-called put options, essentially bets on a falling share price.

He was staying in the same Dortmund hotel as the players, had a view of where the bombs went off and had bought the put options on the team's shares on the day of the attack, prosecutors said.

W. reportedly drew attention at the hotel, first by insisting on a window room facing the front and then, in the chaos after the blasts, by calmly walking into its restaurant to order a steak.

Dortmund, also known as BVB, is the only football club in Germany that is listed on the stock exchange.

If its share price had indeed plunged, W. could have made as much as €500,000 ($600,000) in profit, say prosecutors.

Instead, W. allegedly sold the options days after the attack, making just €5,900.

A day after the attack, Dortmund played their postponed game against Monaco and lost, prompting then coach Thomas Tuchel to rail against UEFA for not giving the players time to come to terms with their fear before returning to the pitch.

W. faces life in prison if found guilty, although in Germany parole is usually granted after 15 years.

The trial is expected to run for 16 more days of hearings.

CRIME

Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

German authorities said Friday they had arrested a 27-year-old Syrian man who allegedly planned an Islamist attack on army soldiers using two machetes in Bavaria.

Published: 13 September 2024 11:17 CEST
Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

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