Klaus-Peter Sabotta was an
extortion'Extortion', outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly...
ist who
sabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions...
d German railways in December 1998, only six months after the
Eschede disasterThe Eschede train disaster was the world's deadliest high-speed train accident. It occurred on 3 June 1998, near the village of Eschede in the Celle district of Lower Saxony, Germany. The toll of 101 dead and 88 injured surpassed the 1971 Dahlerau train disaster as the deadliest accident in the...
. He claimed to represent former employees of the German railway operator
Deutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
who had been made
redundantLayoff is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as the decision that certain positions are no longer necessary or a business slow-down or interruption in work...
, and demanded a
ransomRansom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In early Germanic law a similar concept was called Weregild....
of DM10 million. His motive for the crime was a need to pay off heavy
debtDebt is that which is owed; usually referencing assets owed, but the term can also cover moral obligations and other interactions not requiring money. In the case of assets, debt is a means of using future purchasing power in the present before a summation has been earned...
s he had incurred in his business activities.
The first act of tampering, near
WilmersdorfWilmersdorf is an inner city locality of Berlin, formerly a borough by itself but since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform a part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. In the north the Kurfürstendamm runs through the area.-History:...
was detected and repaired before any train passed, while a second attack on the
InterCityExpressThe Intercity-Express — in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland: InterCityExpress ; abbreviation: ICE — is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
line at the small town of
UchtspringeUchtspringe is a municipality in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany....
, 60 kilometres north of
MagdeburgMagdeburg , the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, is situated at the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe. Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, lived during most of his reign in the town and was buried in the cathedral after his death...
, failed to derail its intended target.
The third act of sabotage, near
AnklamAnklam is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Szczecin Lagoon...
resulted in the derailment of a northbound freight train.
Klaus-Peter Sabotta was an
extortion'Extortion', outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly...
ist who
sabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions...
d German railways in December 1998, only six months after the
Eschede disasterThe Eschede train disaster was the world's deadliest high-speed train accident. It occurred on 3 June 1998, near the village of Eschede in the Celle district of Lower Saxony, Germany. The toll of 101 dead and 88 injured surpassed the 1971 Dahlerau train disaster as the deadliest accident in the...
. He claimed to represent former employees of the German railway operator
Deutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
who had been made
redundantLayoff is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as the decision that certain positions are no longer necessary or a business slow-down or interruption in work...
, and demanded a
ransomRansom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In early Germanic law a similar concept was called Weregild....
of DM10 million. His motive for the crime was a need to pay off heavy
debtDebt is that which is owed; usually referencing assets owed, but the term can also cover moral obligations and other interactions not requiring money. In the case of assets, debt is a means of using future purchasing power in the present before a summation has been earned...
s he had incurred in his business activities.
The first act of tampering, near
WilmersdorfWilmersdorf is an inner city locality of Berlin, formerly a borough by itself but since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform a part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. In the north the Kurfürstendamm runs through the area.-History:...
was detected and repaired before any train passed, while a second attack on the
InterCityExpressThe Intercity-Express — in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland: InterCityExpress ; abbreviation: ICE — is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
line at the small town of
UchtspringeUchtspringe is a municipality in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany....
, 60 kilometres north of
MagdeburgMagdeburg , the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, is situated at the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe. Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, lived during most of his reign in the town and was buried in the cathedral after his death...
, failed to derail its intended target.
The third act of sabotage, near
AnklamAnklam is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Szczecin Lagoon...
resulted in the derailment of a northbound freight train. Had a passenger train due at the time not been half an hour late, it would have smashed into the wreckage of the freight train.
He was arrested as he attempted to collect the ransom at a
filling stationA gas station, fueling station, filling station, service station, petrol station, garage, gasbar, petrol pump or petrol bunk is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are petrol A gas station, fueling station, filling station, service station,...
in
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. On February 4 2000 he was convicted of
attempted murderAttempted murder is a crime in some jurisdictions.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful homicide and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
and attempted extortion, and sentenced to
life imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious felony crime where the convicted person is to remain in prison for the rest of his or her life...
.
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