By Anne Losensky
Searched for undeclared workers, weapons of war found: The search at a Steglitz construction company did not produce evidence of illegal employment, but rather a trolley case that looked like a sample case from an arms dealer!
District Court, Room 701. Accused: Aleksandar D. (47). The academic from Croatia has been living in Berlin since 2014 – officially as a construction worker. The black trolley case is said to have belonged to him.
Contents: three hand grenades, a “Skorpion” submachine gun, silencer, three magazines, a revolver (22 cal.) and an internationally banned TM500 landmine.
Just for the possession of weapons of war there is a risk of five years imprisonment without even a single shot being fired!
“The stuff isn’t mine,” says Aleksandar. “I only own the suitcase. I gave it to my friend Mario for his tools. I didn’t know what was really in there.”
Judge: “Then where does your fingerprint on a hand grenade packaging come from?” Aleksandar (squirms): “Once the suitcase was open in Mario’s living room…”
Prosecutor: “So you knew the content after all! Is it usual for you to have a suitcase full of guns?”
Aleksandar D.: “Mario didn’t know what to do with it. That stuff was from his dead brother.”
Judge: “It looks like an arms dealer’s sample case, it could be about arms trading in crisis areas!”
Aleksandar D. (acts naive): “Well, I haven’t heard anything about selling…”
At the beginning of 2021, buddy Mario pushed everything on the now accused D. Came away with two years of probation. Now he’s trembling with fear and playing truant as a witness. For this he has to pay a fine of 200 euros or four days in jail.
On the next day of the trial (August 4), the police take him to court. Judgment on August 25th.