Berlin & Brandenburg: Robbery instead of a date – four young men arrested

Berlin & Brandenburg
Robbery instead of a date – four young men arrested

03.09.2024, 15:50

The investigators suspect that there is a scam behind the crime: an appointment via a dating app, followed by a nasty surprise at the meeting point.

Berlin (dpa/bb) – The meeting was arranged via a dating app, but instead of closeness there were punches and kicks: Four young men are said to have lured a 57-year-old to Jungfernheide train station in Berlin in order to rob him. They are then said to have pushed him into the Landwehr Canal, from which he was only able to escape with his last strength. The alleged perpetrators are now in custody, as are the public prosecutor’s office and the police.

A judge issued an arrest warrant last Friday for robbery and grievous bodily harm. Investigators believe that the men, aged between 18 and 20, arranged to meet gay men on a dating platform in order to rob them. They suspect that the quartet had committed further crimes in the same vein.

The men are said to have stolen the 57-year-old’s wallet, cell phone and watch on August 29. After the victim had made it to the shore, the police began searching for the perpetrators. With the help of video recordings, the Berlin transport company was also able to catch the suspects, according to a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office.