All four suspects in the March 6th heist of the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop at Berlin are now in custody, as police arrested two men at Berlin’s Tegel Airport Saturday. The suspects were part of an international manhunt after making off with nearly €250,000 from the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where the event was being held.
Berlin police announced that 20 year-old suspect Mustafa Ucarkus was taken into custody on Saturday afternoon after arriving on a flight from Istanbul. Eight hours later, the fourth and final suspect, 19 year-old Jihad Chetwie, was arrested upon returning from Beirut. Both men had informed police through their lawyers that they would be traveling back to Germany.
A German police spokesman told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that the arrests signified a “great success for the prosecution and investigators.”
According to a report Sunday by the Berliner Morgenpost, the heist may have not have been planned by the four robbers themselves. The newspaper reported that an Arab crime family known to police could have masterminded the theft. Two members of the family allegedly stayed at the Grand Hyatt Hotel shortly before the heist and were reportedly recorded on surveillance cameras. A rival criminal group supposedly provided police with tips on the robbers’ identities.
The investigation broke open last Monday when an unnamed 21 year-old turned himself in and revealed the names of his accomplices. Ahmad el-Awayti was arrested in a Berlin subway station on Wednesday. The Associated Press reported, “Police said he acknowledged to officers that he was being sought by authorities and was arrested without putting up any resistance.”
Ucarkus was then detained on Saturday afternoon. The Turk has a history of criminal violence, having served time in prison for severe bodily harm, and was released in April 2009. The car that the suspects used to escape during the robbery, a Mercedes, is also in police custody.
A man police known as “Mohammed B.” was taken into custody on March 12th as a suspect in the robbery, but was released the next day after producing an alibi. According to Bild am Sonntag, however, the arresting officers found a list of six names on Mohammed B., at least three of which are now suspects in the case. Authorities have not ruled out Mohammed B. as a suspect.
The whereabouts of the stolen €242,000 from the EPT tournament remains unknown. The four men reportedly split the money evenly after the robbery and the first suspect told police that he would return his share of the loot. The total amount stolen would have been larger if it weren’t for a security guard at the event who grabbed one of the assailant’s bags with €500,000 in it.
We’ll continue to bring you updates on the EPT Berlin heist here at Poker News Daily.
