German
police arrested the last two members of the four man team, who stole
nearly €250,000 from the
European Poker Tour (EPT) in Berlin, which was held at the
Grand Hyatt Hotel earlier this month. The suspects have been at large
since the robbery on March 6th.
The authorities got their big break last week on Monday, when an
unnamed 21 year old, turned himself in and gave the names of his band.
The first member to be found was Ahmad el-Awayti, who was arrested on Wednesday
the 17th in a Berlin subway station.The
Associated
Press said, “Police said he acknowledged to officers that he was
being sought by authorities and was arrested without putting up any
resistance.”
The 20 year old suspect, MustafaUcarkus,
was detained on
Saturday afternoon in the Berlin airport after a return flight from
Istanbul. The fourth and last suspect, 19 year old Jihad Chetwie, was
taken in 8 hours later after arriving on a flight from Beirut. Both had
given their lawyers permission to share their flight details with the
German authorities, who had earlier issued
an international arrest
warrant for the pair after suspecting that they had gone overseas.Ucarkus, is a turk with a
history of criminal violence, has been in prison for severe
bodily harm and was released in April 2009. The Mercedes get away car
from the robbery has also been found by the police.
The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag quoted
a German police spokesman, who said the arrests signified a “great
success for the prosecution and
investigators.”
According to the German newpaper, the Berliner Morgenpost,
the four robbers may not have been the thinktank in planning out the
robbery. It was reported that an Arab crime family, well known to local
police, had planned out the theft. Allegedly two members of the crime
family were guests at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, shortly before the EPT and
were seen on surveillance cameras. One of their rivals are
supposed to have tipped the police off onto their identities.
The question remains, where is the money? €242,000 have yet to be found.
The four suspects told the police that they split the money four ways
and one suspect even offered to return his share. They would have been
able to get away with more, if a security guard hadn't grabbed one of
the bags and since the bag looked like a sandwich bag with his lunch in
it, they left it with the guard. I hope he got a bonus for it!
See the EPT Heist here - Armed robbery at German Poker
Tournament 6th March 2010 / Überfall auf Poker Turnier in Berlin
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German
police arrested the last two members of the four man team, who stole
nearly €250,000 from the
