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February 10, 2012
Last poker heist suspects arrested
Published: 21 Mar 10 07:56 CET
Updated: 21 Mar 10 11:20 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100321-26013.html
Police announced late on Saturday that all four suspects in an armed robbery at Germany’s largest poker tournament two weeks ago are now in police custody. Authorities arrested two men at Berlin’s Tegel airport after they returned from abroad.
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One suspect, a 20-year-old man, presented himself to police after arriving from Istanbul before noon on Saturday. Eight hours later, the final suspect was arrested on the airport tarmac after the 19-year-old returned from Beirut, according to Bild am Sonntag’s report.
The location of the €242,000 stolen during the high-stakes poker game at Berlin’s Grand Hyatt Hotel is still unclear, but there is now speculation that the four robbers did not plan the heist themselves, according to a report published Sunday by the Berliner Morgenpost.
The newspaper reported that an Arab family known to police masterminded the crime. Two members of the family reportedly stayed at the Grand Hyatt hotel shortly before the heist and were recorded on surveillance footage, though police refused to comment.
A rival criminal group allegedly provided police with tips on the robbers’ identities.
The investigation gained momentum last Monday, after a 21-year-old German turned himself in to police and provided the names of his accomplices. He told police he would return his share of the stolen money.
Two days later, a second suspect was arrested without resistance during a routine security check.
The arrests conclude a sweeping international search effort to track the suspects with names and photos. Police chief Dieter Glietsch said he was certain the four thieves would be arrested early on, but a full week passed before investigators achieved key breaks in the case.
DDP/DPA/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
The money they have hidden (or that has not yet been recovered) needs to be put into the pot for bidding and playing. This way if they win, the money has been returned, and they get to go about their lives. If they lose, the money has been recovered, and they get sentenced to what the judges feel is a fair punishment for the robbery.
So if they are good poker players, they could win their freedom. This might add a new slant on how justice is served.
As an additional example, murderers could get a chance to go free if they survive a hunt. The criminal is set loose in a wilderness area (like the middle of the Sahara Desert), and marshalls armed with weapons hunt for the criminal with the intent of killing the criminal. If the criminal survives and escapes his hunters, then he can live. This would improve the skills of the policemen and justice would be served. It could also save costs for the State of providing accommodations for the convicted criminal. Another benefit would be that the would-be murderers in the world would think twice before killing because of the prospect that they would also be hunted down like a wild animal and killed.
There are lots of efficiencies in this model of justice.
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