GERMANY | Socks provided clue in terror gang case

Monday, 6 February 2012, 13:35

Police probing the Zwickau-based National Socialist Underground (NSU) terror cell have identified one of the group’s members, Beate Zschäpe, as the person who blew up the flat she shared with two other suspects by analysing her socks, a new report has disclosed. Examining chemical traces left on Zschäpe’s socks, a Saxony state police forensic found hints of what was most likely petrol. Experts also found traces of fuel in the debris of the apartment, including on carpets, seat cushions and wood flooring. Zschäpe's socks were confiscated on November 8, after she turned herself in to police. Zschäpe blew up the flat four days earlier to destroy evidence of the group’s crimes, after her fellow gang members, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt, were caught after robbing a bank. One of them shot the other dead before killing himself. The gang killed nine immigrant shopkeepers and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007. Police found evidence linking the trio to the murders, as well as a DVD of a video boasting about the killings, in the rubble at the flat. They also discovered an address book which contained an “enemy list” that included the names of high-ranking investigators, as well as people opposing the nazi National Democratic Party.