Man jailed for sending email threats

STUTTGART: -- A German doctor's assistant has been jailed for 3½ years for trying to extort money from banks, hotels and airports with email threats sent from internet cafes in Thailand.

The court in this southern city ruled that the 44-year-old had sent dozens of emails threatening to kill people or blow up buildings if he was not paid because he needed money for a flight home from Asia.

The man also said he was facing a heavy fine because he had overstayed his visa for Thailand after falling in love with a Thai woman, but that his girlfriend had left him when he ran out of money.

Under the aliases Jonathan Drake and Vincent Baxter, he sent out 39 emails to German and Austrian institutions demanding between €5000 and €10,000 from the recipients and threatening to kill someone close to them if they failed to pay.

He told airport authorities in the messages that he would detonate hidden bombs if he did not receive between €50,000 and €100,000.

At Vienna's Schwechat airport, a security team was forced to hold a crisis meeting over the threats while security officials at Tegel airport in Berlin dispatched sniffer dogs to hunt for explosives.

Most of the institutions targeted, however, ignored the threats on the advice of the police.

Authorities were able to trace the emails back to Thailand and arrested the suspect when he flew back to Germany.

The defendant, who had already run into trouble with the law in 1992 for threatening a German pop singer, told the court that he had found the email addresses for "the crazy idea of blackmail" on the internet.

--AFP 2004-09-09

The court in this southern city ruled that the 44-year-old had sent dozens of emails threatening to kill people or blow up buildings if he was not paid because he needed money for a flight home from Asia.

He told airport authorities in the messages that he would detonate hidden bombs if he did not receive between €50,000 and €100,000.

He needs to find a better travel agent because I believe you can find a cheaper flight to Germany than E50,000 - E100,000.

well i gues he's going back to germany anyway after a while

A bit of a nut-case. He stayed longer than planne in Thailand because he fall in love. After the 7,000 Euro were spent, which he stole from his father before the trip the woman left him.

Well, this happens.

One more bit from the court hearing:

The police had no problems to find the man, in each demand letter he included his account number and his real name.

The judges now want to check his mental capabilities. The hearing will go on 9/9.

Got this from news reports in Germany.

A bit of a nut-case. He stayed longer than planne in Thailand because he fall in love. After the 7,000 Euro were spent, which he stole from his father before the trip the woman left him.

Well, this happens.

One more bit from the court hearing:

The police had no problems to find the man, in each demand letter he included his account number and his real name.

The judges now want to check his mental capabilities. The hearing will go on 9/9.

Got this from news reports in Germany.

The Thai cops got a local Thai who tried extortion but used his own mobile to do it with. Of course his phone number was also received by the people he was trying to extort. That was a pretty easy case to solve too.

Thank you, Axel, for the additional information from a different source, which always makes a topic more interesting. Please post any further details (assuming the news sources are written in German and I mai kaow jai).

So sad that someone could steal that kind of money from their father and then squander it so recklessly and then get commit a felony terrorist extortion. Such a burden that some parents are forced to bare.

Thank you, Axel, for the additional information from a different source, which always makes a topic more interesting.    Please post any further details (assuming the news sources are written in German and I mai kaow jai).

So sad that someone could steal that kind of money from their father and then squander it so recklessly and then get commit a felony terrorist extortion. Such a burden that some parents are forced to bare. 

Tks sriracha john. Yes, it is in German language, just double checked this morning and run it through an on-line translation software (abbreviated)

Text from an on-line newspaper in the Stuttgart area.

The title has a mistake, (should read 3 1/2 years)

Yes, one feels sorry for the father. Guess, every parents is happy once the children made it through education and entered a regular life.

Judgment: three years (sic) custody

The Stuttgart regional court convicted a 44-yo, to a prison sentence of three and a half years. who in 39 cases, from Thailand by internet, had tried to blackmail banks, hotels, lawyers and airports in Stuttgart and the federal territory,....The demands began with 10,000 Euros and ended in 100,000 Euros. ...concerned were several businesses in the entire federal territory and in Austria, among others also airports. No company did pay, however. The accused was arrested at Frankfurt airport on the 9 March

Because he pleaded guilty before the judges the punishment was far under the rule-sentence, this also because no material damage had emerged, so the judges.

To be sure some airports will sue now under civil law because due to his bomb-threats emergency meetings and flight detours were necessary. The accused accepted the imposed three and a half years custody immediately.

http://www.ez-online.de/lokal/stuttgart/st...rtikel41102.cfm

The police had no problems to find the man, in each demand letter he included his account number and his real name.

Not exactly a rocket scientist.

Thank you Axel.

hi'

what a nut LOL

just feels pity for this stupid one ...

francois