Explosive Post reaches food companies in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in the spring. A pensioner is now being tried for this in Heidelberg. He has a clear message to the court.
Heidelberg – The man had put aside the package that was supposed to be his undoing. It was only addressed generally to the drinks company ADM Wild in North Baden.
When the post office employee had sorted the remaining items, he opened the package. As big as a book shipment. It exploded.
“All hell broke loose,” said the 44-year-old on Wednesday in front of the Heidelberg regional court – around seven months later. It was all black and full of smoke. Before he can make the statement, he has to take several deep breaths and wipe tears from his eyes. Even today he is marked by the consequences of the parcel bomb, goes to a psychologist and receives medication. He reports of a panic attack, noise in the ear, dizziness. Photos from the hospital immediately after the incident show wounds on the head and hands.
A 66-year-old pensioner is said to be responsible for the act. According to the allegations, he addressed two more self-made packages to the Lidl headquarters in Neckarsulm near Heilbronn and to the Upper Bavarian baby food manufacturer Hipp in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm. Three people were injured at Lidl when the explosive device detonated there. The package to Hipp was intercepted on time.
Accused denies the allegations
But at the start of the process, the trained electrician denies any connection with the explosive mail. “I am not the person you are looking for,” says the German. He is not the one on a video from a post office in Ulm where the three mail items were posted. At the time he was at home.
He has never harmed other people either, asserts the man, who between his defense lawyers seems even smaller than he is anyway. While the Wild employee testifies, he just stares at the floor, not looking at the man. The hair is gray, lighter at the top, longer at the back. The 66-year-old accuses the judiciary of wanting to “destroy” him at great expense. “I hope for justice.”
In addition, the retiree only comments on his career and emphasizes above all his social commitment – through which he also got to know his wife. They bought a row house. He will not answer any questions, announces a lawyer. Just this explanation.
The public prosecutor’s office accuses the man of causing an explosive explosion, dangerous bodily harm and attempted serious bodily harm. He has accepted that people will be seriously injured, says the chief prosecutor. That they lose limbs, eyesight and hearing. Ammunition was found on the man at home that he was not allowed to own. The packages are said to have been provided with threats of further acts of violence against employees and / or customers. All this in order to extort money from the companies? The pensioner faces up to 15 years imprisonment.
Police on the hunt for clues
At the beverage manufacturer Wild in Eppelheim on February 16, the police also asked about previous threats, about frustrated and fired employees, explains an official in front of the court. No context. One day later, the report about the explosive device arrives at Lidl. The senders are on the parcels. Names of women who don’t exist. The addresses belonged to student residences in Ulm, Augsburg and Munich.
In this way the policemen find out that not only the two parcels were sent, but also the third to Hipp. “That was the second time the adrenaline really went up,” said the officer on the witness stand. Thanks to delays at the postal service provider, it had not yet achieved its goal. It is intercepted and defused in the parcel distribution center at Munich Airport.
Criminals repeatedly try to violently demand large amounts of money from companies: In April 2018, for example, a 50-year-old and his partner had to go to jail for nine and eight years and nine months, respectively, because they set off three pipe bombs in front of Lidl branches in North Rhine-Westphalia had asked for eleven million euros. In June 2020, a 56-year-old blackmailer was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison. He had demanded almost twelve million euros from several food companies in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance for poisoned baby food.
Eleven follow-up dates are planned for the current procedure until mid-November. 47 witnesses and 3 experts are invited. dpa
