- Klaus-Peter Sabotta
Klaus-Peter Sabotta was an
extortion ist whosabotage d Germanrailway s in December 1998, only six months after the Eschede disaster. He claimed to represent formeremployee s of the German railway operatorDeutsche Bahn who had been made redundant, and demanded aransom of DM10 million. His motive for the crime was a need to pay off heavydebt s he had incurred in his business activities.The first act of tampering, near
Wilmersdorf was detected and repaired before any train passed, while a second attack on theInterCityExpress line at the small town ofUchtspringe , 60 kilometres north ofMagdeburg , failed to derail its intended target.The third act of sabotage, near
Anklam resulted in the derailment of a northboundfreight train. Had a passenger train due at the time not been half an hour late, it would have smashed into the wreckage of the freight train.He was arrested as he attempted to collect the ransom at a
filling station inBavaria . OnFebruary 4 2000 he was convicted ofattempted murder and attempted extortion, and sentenced tolife imprisonment .External links
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20000708223116/http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a0958LBY226reulb-20000124&qt=rail&sv=IS&lk=&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486 German rail blackmailer sentenced to life in jail]
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