Manhunt in Bavaria

Drug addicts escape from closed clinic

In Straubing (Bavaria), a manhunt is currently underway for four fugitive criminals.

(Bild: glomex)

On Saturday evening, four men escaped from a closed clinic in Straubing in Lower Bavaria. They were criminals who had been ordered to undergo withdrawal (see video above). The men are considered "dangerous", the police warned the public.

The fugitives are between 27 and 31 years old. Two of them are in the hospital in Straubing for drug offenses and two for theft. According to initial findings, the men threatened and attacked an employee of the hospital. They held him down and forced him to open the gate at the main entrance, it was said.

They fled on foot
They then released the employee and fled on foot in the direction of the Alburg district. The man threatened was injured in the face and had to be treated in hospital after the attack.

Police manhunt on Sunday night

(Bild: glomex)

A helicopter and search dogs are now being used to search for the four men. Extensive search measures are also underway, according to the police. Citizens have been asked not to pick up hitchhikers and not to approach suspicious persons. Instead, they should call the police on 110 if they think they have seen the fugitives.

Minister of Social Affairs calls for consequences
The search for the men continued on Sunday evening. The Bavarian Minister of Social Affairs, Ulrike Scharf, called for the incident to be investigated in detail and for there to be consequences. "There must be no danger to the public or the staff in forensic clinics from the prison system. The safety and protection of the population have top priority," she said.

Correctional facility
The Straubing District Hospital is a specialist clinic for forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy and fulfills the legal mandate of the penal system. The fugitives should have undergone drug withdrawal. However, a spokeswoman for the district of Lower Bavaria said that the plan for three of the four escapees was to suggest that they discontinue therapy.

People who are classified as not or insufficiently culpable and are therefore not sent to prison are housed in a psychiatric hospital. This can be the case, for example, with mentally ill people or addicts.