On Christmas Day, the house of a Pakistani family suddenly goes up in flames. The fire department later finds Nazi slogans on the walls of the ruins. State security investigates right-wing arson. Now it comes out: it was all a lie! The family had set the fire themselves.
The house fire was a huge scandal in the small town of Wächtersbach, which lies between Frankfurt and Fulda in Hesse. This was followed by vigils against the right, expressions of solidarity and warnings from politicians on the left and the Greens.
Many assumed it was a cowardly attack with a racist motive. The family from Pakistan remained unharmed: according to their own statements, they were not at home on the day of the fire and were visiting a friend.
It took the fire department eight hours to extinguish the fire at Christmas 2023. The damage was estimated at 350,000 euros. Because the slogan “Foreigners get out” was sprayed on the wall in seven places in the house, investigators initially believed that the perpetrators were from the far-right movement.
Now the turnaround! The Hanau public prosecutor’s office is certain: the family set the fire themselves and wanted to use the Nazi slogans to mislead the police.
The house owner (47) himself became the focus of the investigators. He had caught the officers’ attention because he had fresh wounds from the fire – although the father of the family had stated that he had not been on site during the fire.
The public prosecutor’s office assumes that the family set the fire in order to defraud the insurance company.
A total of five suspects were arrested – including the owner of the house and his brother-in-law (34). Among other things, they are accused of joint aggravated arson using an accelerant, the public prosecutor’s office said in a press release on Tuesday.
Also in custody are the wife (33), the 18-year-old son and a man (55) from Pakistan, who had given the family a false alibi.
The reasons given for the arrest were the risk of concealment and flight.
Versicherungsbetrug: Familie soll Nazi-Brandstiftung inszeniert haben | Regional | BILD.de