Berchtesgaden (Bavaria) – Three brave men arrest an unscrupulous smuggler (39) and hand him over to the police – but this courageous action may now have legal repercussions!
Because: The Traunstein Public Prosecutor's Office is checking whether the three men acted proportionately and in accordance with the law!
Farmer Hans stopped the smuggler with his tractor and held him until the police arrived.
Photo: Private
On Wednesday, the smuggler brought 18 migrants illegally into Germany in a completely overloaded van through a small border crossing near Berchtesgaden, according to the Traunstein Public Prosecutor's Office. Early in the morning, he left the smugglers in an engine room below a farm.
Refugees were brought into the country in this car
Photo: Private
At the same time, another smuggler dropped off this group of illegally entered migrants a few houses down the road in Oberau.
Photo: Private
BILD visited the heroes who foiled the smuggler's crime: Hans H. (61) runs a holiday farm in Oberau near Berchtesgaden – together with his son (25) and neighbor (55), he stopped the smuggler.
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The farmer: “He was at our facilities with his van at 6:30 am and then left again. By 9am he was back, so all the men fled into the woods, some to the left, some to the right.
“I told my son: take the tractor, we will block the access,” says Hans H. They set up another barrier next to the tractor with a construction fence to prevent anyone from escaping across the meadow. “Then the driver got in and sped up. He passed the construction fence at full speed. Pieces flew everywhere. I thought he was going to push us to the limit.
The smuggler tried to escape across the meadow. Tire tracks are still clearly visible
Photo: Jakob Mell
But the transporter got stuck in the meadow on the hillside, probably due to damage to the gearbox. At the same time it was the chance the smuggler on the run to avoid walking. “My son got into the car on the right, I got into the car on the left and we got him out. We took him to the street and held him down.”
The police were already on their way. Neighbors called 911. Because the Serb had a bloody wound on his face, an ambulance was called.
Judge orders preventive detention
An arrest warrant was issued for the smuggler. He was taken into custody, reports the “Berchtesgadener Anzeiger”. The Public Prosecutor's Office is now analyzing whether the arrest of individuals was carried out in a proportionate manner. The search for smuggled migrants was successful. According to initial investigations, the men come from Syria.
The three brave residents now received another visit from the police and were questioned again about the incident. Apparently, the unscrupulous smuggler claimed that the men beat him while holding him down!
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Farmer Hans H. no longer understands the world: “We were just doing our duty as citizens. The man definitely would have continued his criminal behavior if we hadn't stopped him.” And: “We didn't hit the man. He may have suffered injuries when he jumped the construction fence.”
Residents in the border area with Austria are victims of daily smuggling by criminals and dangerous pursuits occur repeatedly.