Successful manhunt

Major manhunt for violent fugitive

(Bild: P. Huber)

Successful manhunt in the districts of Hartberg/Fürstenfeld and Graz-Umgebung: the German who escaped from a closed facility in Lower Bavaria has been arrested. 

The 28-year-old Moritz K. was considered dangerous, especially as he is said to have taken a hostage together with three accomplices in order to escape from the Straubing district hospital in Lerchenhaid.

On the road in a presumably stolen car 
The police had already suspected that he had connections to Styria, and on Wednesday it became known that he had been seen by witnesses. The man is said to have been driving a black Mercedes estate car. The vehicle and the Austrian license plates mounted on it are presumably stolen, according to the police. He was traveling alone and in the afternoon a manhunt was launched in the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district.

Arrested in a wooded area
The man was finally arrested in the district of Graz-Umgebung on Wednesday evening in a wooded area between Tobelbad and Hautzendorf, he is in custody and is to be extradited to Germany. "Details of the arrest can only be published to a limited extent. Intensive criminal investigations by the State Office of Criminal Investigation (Investigation Division Search) finally led to the wanted man," the executive announced. 

Just last week, a colleague of his who was also on the run was caught in Eastern Styria as he tried to get into a car. He is currently being held in Graz-Jakomini prison. His extradition has already been requested.