German kidnapper denies own brother was next victim

Oct 13, 2011, 14:26 GMT

Hamburg - A convicted German kidnapper who netted millions in a 1996 abduction denied Thursday that he had plotted, from jail, the kidnapping of his own brother to force the brother to give him access to the ransom money.

Thomas Drach, 51, who is serving the maximum 15-year sentence for abducting Jan Philipp Reemtsma, a millionaire German philanthropist in 1996, has never revealed where he hid the approximately 15 million euros (about 20 million dollars) he extorted.

Prosecutors accuse Drach of arranging for criminal friends to wrest control of the missing millions from his accomplice and brother, Lutz Drach, who has served out a jail term for laundering the vanished funds.

One of Germany's best-known criminals, Drach snarled at judges, telling them the new charge of attempted extortion was 'childish play-acting.' He said his arrangements with his brother to hide the ransom were none of the court's business.

'You haven't found out about it in 15 years and you're not going to find out today,' said Drach who was bundled into court by heavily armed police after refusing to obey prison warders earlier in the day.

Prison officials had ordered Drach to put on a blindfold so he could not observe the route as he was led to a prison van. They said this was needed because he was on the lookout for a means to escape.

Drach refused and the trial started hours later, after the judges ordered he be brought to court by force and under restraint. The trial was later adjourned.