Police foil bid to blackmail Bayern Munich

Photo credit: AFP

A former German bank robber has been charged with blackmail for allegedly trying to extort millions in cash and diamonds from Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich with bomb threats, police said Tuesday.

The German league leaders received two letters on February 9 and 15 containing vague threats, involving bombs and drones, and reported demands for one million euros ($1.1 million) in cash and two million euros worth of diamonds.

Munich police on Monday arrested a 63-year-old man, saying he is a notorious former bank robber who was sentenced to over 13 years in jail in 1999 on 17 counts of bank robbery and freed on parole in 2009.

Known in the Munich region as the “broomstick robber” during the 1990s, the man was known to hold hostages and lock bank doors with a broomstick before escaping with the money, netting millions in his string of robberies.

The suspect appeared before a judge on Tuesday, police said.