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Monika Skolimowska / dpa
Several people are said to have caught a suspected burglar in the act in Hanover and then beaten him up.
According to previous findings, the 22-year-old entered a kiosk through a window on Monday night, the police said.
He triggered an alarm system that alerted several residents and the operator of the kiosk.
The alleged burglar, who, according to the investigators, was primarily targeting tobacco products, wanted to get outside through the broken window.
Before that, however, the residents would have waited and pulled the man out of the kiosk.
Suspected burglar was known to the police
Ten of them are said to have pressed the 22-year-old to the ground, hit, choked and kicked.
According to the police, they also sprayed him with pepper spray and hit him with a curtain rod.
The police eventually released the man from the situation.
He was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The officers found a tool with a knife on him.
The man, who broke into two kiosks last year, is now being investigated for the theft with weapons.
The residents who beat the burglar are being investigated for dangerous bodily harm.
bbr / dpa