Convicted kidnapper on trial in Germany for armed robbery

A German man convicted of a high-profile 1996 kidnapping went on trial Tuesday over his alleged role in a string of armed robberies in Germany in 2018 and 2019

Germany Trial Drach ((c) Copyright 2022, dpa (www.dpa.de). Alle Rechte vorbehalten)

A German man convicted of a high-profile 1996 kidnapping went on trial Tuesday over his alleged role in a string of armed robberies in Germany in 2018 and 2019.

Thomas Drach is charged with attempted murder, aggravated robbery and arson, among other things, in the trial at the Cologne state court. He has denied the charges. There are no formal pleas in German court proceedings, and news agency dpa reported that his lawyer said Drach wouldn’t testify.

Drach, 61, is on trial along with a Dutch co-defendant over robberies of cash transporters in Limburg Frankfurt and Cologne. Prosecutors allege that Drach fired at security officers during two of the robberies, wounding two men.

Drach was convicted and sentenced to 14 1/2 years for extortionate kidnapping in 2001 for the abduction of cigarette heir Jan Philipp Reemtsma, who was held in a cellar for 33 days in 1996 until a multimillion-dollar ransom was paid. He was released in October 2013 and arrested in the Netherlands last February over the cash transporter robberies.

Drach escaped to South America in 1996, where he lived under an assumed identity. Argentine authorities arrested him in 1998 following information received via intercepted telephone conversations and extradited him to Germany in 2000.