Hostage taking in Hamburg: arrest warrant issued against 35-year-old

According to the Hanseatic city’s public prosecutor’s office, the 35-year-old is accused of, among other things, taking hostages and kidnapping minors. The man drove to the airport in a car on Saturday evening with his four-year-old daughter, who he had kidnapped, and only gave up after around 18 hours.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the investigating judge issued an arrest warrant against the man at her request. He broke through a barrier at the airport with his daughter in the car and drove onto the tarmac. There he stopped near a plane ready to take off. It was only after 18 hours that the man allowed himself to be arrested without resistance on Sunday and handed his daughter over to the police. The airport had to close for the duration of the operation.

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According to the police, the accused was in a “mentally exceptional state” due to a custody conflict with his ex-wife. After an argument with his former partner in her apartment in Stade in Lower Saxony, the man fled with his daughter and drove to the airport. The woman immediately filed a criminal complaint with the police for child abduction.

Bomb was a dummy

The central office of the public prosecutor’s office in Hamburg, which is responsible for state security crimes, took over the further investigation on Monday. But this was only done because of “the importance of the matter,” as a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office said. There is still no suspicion of terrorism.

As the public prosecutor’s office also announced, the accused fired at least one shot from a pistol into the air when his daughter was kidnapped in Stade. After breaking through the barrier at the airport, he said in an emergency call to the police that he had a bomb with him and demanded that he and his daughter travel to Turkey. He also fired three shots and threw two incendiary devices out of the car.

According to the authority, the emergency services initially refrained from accessing the man due to his threats. After giving it up, in addition to the firearm, they found a self-made dummy explosive belt, which consisted of a book wrapped in aluminum foil with wires inserted.

Already traveled alone once with my daughter

According to the general public prosecutor’s office and the police, the accused had already traveled to Turkey alone with his daughter for several months last year without authorization. However, the mother later managed to bring the child back to Germany. Criminal proceedings against the 35-year-old for child abduction were concluded with a fine.

According to the airport, operations that had been suspended during the hostage crisis resumed on Monday and, according to a spokeswoman, returned to normal throughout the day. Almost 38,000 passengers were affected by the closure on Saturday and Sunday. Around 220 flight connections had to be canceled. More than 300 take-offs and landings were planned again on Monday.

Meanwhile, the debate about security precautions at the airport continued. The SPD parliamentary group in the Hamburg parliament announced on Monday that it would “also work on the issue in parliament” and seek discussions with those responsible at the airport. “Now it must be clarified how the serious security breach could have occurred and what additional measures need to be taken in the future,” explained parliamentary group leader Dirk Kienscherf.

Such an incident would be a reason to “question” the security concepts, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior on Monday in Berlin. At the same time, she pointed out that the state authorities were responsible for securing access to airports. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Transport emphasized that German airports are very safe compared to international standards. They correspond to all relevant requirements and in some cases exceed them.

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