Criminals without knowing it

Because they didn't know what they were doing: Two men were now standing in front of the Erding district court who are said to have moved cars.

Only: they had no idea about it.

Erding - You registered and resold two cars from the Czech Republic in Germany.

Everything on the cars was in order and the papers were complete, but the vehicles came from a criminal source.

That is why two Erdingers, 61 and 48 years old, stood before the district court.

Because they apparently did not know anything about it, the proceedings were discontinued.

The cross-border crimes, in which the two defendants were marginally and unknowingly involved, went like this: Unknown persons, disguised with falsified Ukrainian personal details, rented two Citroën cars, an SUV and a compact car in France between June 2018 and January 2019 .

They paid the rent for six months in advance.

A few days later the vehicles were registered in the Czech Republic via letterbox companies, brought to Germany and, at least on paper, sold to the defendants.

They approved the vehicles and resold them to car dealerships.

That was discovered when a car was sold by the dealership.

At the registration office it turned out that they were looking for the car.

While following the sales channels, the police came across the 61-year-old.

The backers could not be identified.

“This is exactly how you disguise the origin of cars.

They are admitted to ordinary people via three or four countries and letterbox companies and then resold, ”said an investigator on the witness stand.

The police could investigate the straw men relatively easily, but the wire-pullers would not be on their heels.

“I'm actually buying this story from them.

As a young professional, I would think that can't be.

But that happens a lot. "

The two defendants said they were simply ripped off.

They met the Czech man behind who handed over the cars to them in a casino in Prague.

After a few months of contact, he suggested this deal to them.

It was said that in Germany you earn more money with cars.

In order to avoid complicated procedures, the Czech suggested selling the cars on paper to the accused.

For this he paid the 61-year-old around 550 euros.

After the resale, they gave the money they had raised, two five-figure sums, to the Czech.

“I had no idea where the cars came from.

The papers were okay, I didn't think anything about it and just wanted to help my friend, ”said the 48-year-old.

He was also not involved in the actions, but only made his account available to the 61-year-old: "He withdrew Hartz IV and did not want a five-digit sum on it." He withdrew the money immediately after it arrived and handed it over together with his buddy to the Czech man behind.

After a legal discussion, Judge Björn Schindler and the parties to the litigation agreed to discontinue the proceedings against conditions.

The 61-year-old has to pay 500 euros to the Jugendhilfeverein Brücke Erding, the 48-year-old gets away with 250 euros.

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