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WORLD NEWS Monday 4 deceMber 2017

Germany: Suspicious package part of extort plot aimed at DHL

By K. GRIESHABER Police initially said the all be indications of a let-
Associated Press package contained “a cy- ter bomb, he said, adding
BERLIN (AP) — A suspicious lindrical object with cables, that police had activated
package containing nails batteries and nails” but a hotline to field concerns.
that led to a bomb scare lacked an ignition mecha- “If you get a suspicious
at a Christmas market in nism and wasn’t viable as package, do not open it.
Germany was part of a a bomb. They now think That could lead to an ex-
blackmailing plot against it could have exploded, plosion,” Schroeter said.
a delivery company, Ger- though didn’t elaborate The package triggered the
man authorities said Sun- why. evacuation of a popular
day. Along with the device, the Christmas market in down-
Brandenburg state In- package held a letter that town Potsdam on Friday
terior Minister Karl-Heinz directed investigators to afternoon. The market was
Schroeter told reporters an online message outlin- re-opened Saturday with
the package was part of a ing a blackmail plot and an increased police pres-
scheme to extort millions of mentioning the parcel ence.
euros (dollars) from delivery delivered to the Frankfurt Germans are still tense
company DHL. It was deliv- Brandenburg state Interior Minister Karl-Heinz Schroeter is an der Oder company, almost a year after a ter-
surrounded by media during a news conference in Potsdam,
ered Friday to a pharmacy eastern Germany, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017. Schroeter said. ror attack on a Christmas
on the same street as the (Gregor Fischer/dpa via AP) Further attempts to extort market in Berlin killed 12
market in the city Potsdam money from other com- people. Markets across the
and later destroyed in a sent the parcel was still at An online company in the panies or private individu- country have heightened
controlled explosion. large, he said. Officials de- town of Frankfurt an der als are likely, he said. An security this year, while the
Schroeter said the mar- clined to say if they had Oder received a similar unknown sender, spelling government has warned
ket itself most likely wasn’t any clues about the send- package at the beginning mistakes or wires hanging that Germany remains a
a target. The person who er’s identity. of last month. out of a package could target for extremists.q

UK extradition hearing set

for tycoon sought by India

By NICK PERRY investments in a liquor
GREGORY KATZ company, an airline, a
Associated Press Formula One team and
LONDON (AP) — Indian an Indian Premier League
tycoon Vijay Mallya is set cricket club.
to face an extradition In November, he called
hearing in London that the allegations “baseless
should determine wheth- and fabricated.” Asked
er he is sent back to India by reporters outside the
to face money launder- courthouse why he didn’t
ing allegations related to return to India to answer
the collapse of several of the charges, he snapped
his businesses. back: “That’s none of
The Westminster Mag- your business.”
istrates Court hearing, The 61-year-old was also
which begins Monday a politician for six years
and is due to last about before resigning from the
eight days, will be widely upper house of India’s
followed in India, where parliament last year, a
Mallya is known for his day before an ethics
flashy lifestyle and lav- committee was set to rec-
ish parties attended by ommend his expulsion.
fashion models and Bol- Mallya launched Kingfish-
lywood stars. er Airlines in 2005 and the
Mallya, who denies the carrier set new standards
allegations, was once for quality and service,
hailed as India’s version forcing competing airlines
of British entrepreneur to improve. But it ran into
Richard Branson for his trouble as it expanded. q