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Crime

Berlin police arrest murder suspects at airport

Darko Janjevic with dpa
December 31, 2017

German police arrested a man and a woman at Schönefeld airport as the couple was trying to leave the country. The suspects were wanted over a murder after a body was discovered in Berlin's Wedding district.

https://p.dw.com/p/2qAZQ
A police tent covers the site where a woman's body had been found in Berlin
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken

The 36-year-old man and the 27-year-old woman were detained while trying to fly to Turkey from Berlin Schönefeld airport, police said on Sunday.

According to the authorities, the man had already garnered "significant attention" from the police over his connections to the drug scene in south Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood.

The man and his female acquaintance were arrested on suspicion of murder, Germany's federal police said. Officials launched the case after the body of a 55-year-old woman was discovered in Berlin's area of Wedding about a week ago. A passer-by had noticed a strange looking bundle of fibers next to a construction rubble container and alerted the police, who found the body and opened a murder investigation.

The autopsy confirmed that the woman had died after suffering a "massive violent trauma." The police also published a photo of the woman and urged the public to share any information. 

The couple is to be taken before an investigating judge pending a detention ruling, police said after the arrest.