Police catch suspected Berlin poker thief

[clevfan]

Crime | 13.03.2010
dw-world.de

Police catch suspected Berlin poker thief

Police in Berlin have apprehended one of the alleged thieves who raided a Berlin poker tournament and made off with part of the prize money.



The newspaper Berliner Morgenpost quoted security officials who said that a man was arrested late on Friday in the German capital. The suspect is thought to have been involved in an earlier raid on a Berlin casino in 2004.

Machetes and handguns



Last Saturday four masked men burst into the Grand Hyatt hotel on Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin, wielding machetes and handguns. The robbers escaped in a black Mercedes with 242,000 euros ($331,000) in cash.

According to the Berliner Morgenpost, the police got information on the getaway car earlier in the week. Following the incident, about 80 witnesses' accounts were received, and police examined about 40 people, a police spokesperson told the news agency DPA.



Jackpot



Around 950 people were participating in the poker tournament, including tennis celebrity Boris Becker, who had been eliminated from the competition the previous day.



A total of 4.7 million euros in prize money had been offered in the prestigious German tournament, including a one-million-euro jackpot for the winner.



The head of the German police union this week described the thieves as "amateurs" and expressed confidence that they would be caught soon.



A legal trick



According to the news magazine Spiegel, the Berlin poker tournament was not compatible with the state gambling laws. Other German states forbade the games, since poker with large amounts of money is only permitted in licensed casinos with corresponding security equipment. In order to hold the tournament at the hotel, organizer had to use a legal trick, designating Casino Berlin, as "sole organizer" with the Grand Hyatt hotel designated the "temporary casino site."

[clevfan]

Poker heist suspect released without charge

Published: 14 Mar 10 11:08 CET
thelocal.de

The man arrested on Friday evening on suspicion of being involved in the poker game heist in Berlin last week has been released after detectives discovered there was no way he could be connected to the robbery.

The 29-year-old man served prison time for an attempted similar robbery on the casino at the top of the Park Inn on Alexanderplatz in 2004, leading police to suspect him and his then gang to have been behind the latest heist.

But a day after his arrest the man was released without charge, leaving Berlin police back where they started.

The Tagesspiegel newspaper on Sunday reported that although officers had searched two Berlin flats connected with the man, they could not find anything to put him at the scene of the crime.

He was released on Saturday afternoon, the paper reported, after detectives realised on the basis of their questioning that he could not have been involved.

It seems he resembled security camera pictures of one of the gang who robbed the poker tournament last weekend. His previous involvement in a similar heist led the investigation team to his door.

No further details have been released in order to keep investigative information from those who were actually responsible for robbing €242,000 from the Grand Hyatt hotel on Potsdamer Platz last Sunday.

The four-member gang held up the international tournament, which had included a number of celebrities including Boris Becker, and ran of with bags of money.

[StarnetGypsy]

Originally Posted by clevfan

The man arrested on Friday evening on suspicion of being involved in the poker game heist in Berlin last week has been released after detectives discovered there was no way he could be connected to the robbery.

... a far cry from

Police in Berlin have apprehended one of the alleged thieves who raided a Berlin poker tournament and made off with part of the prize money.

probably saying "the police were questioning a suspected participant in the robbery" would've been more accurate?