Children snatching attempt at the block suspected to involve Hanning
In a series of raids, the Hamburg public prosecutor's office has initiated investigations against August Hanning, the former president of the German Federal Intelligence Service, and a retired officer from the Hamburg State Criminal Police Office (LKA), suspected of their involvement in a child abduction attempt in 2022.
The raids affected eight residential and business addresses of the two suspects, as well as five objects in Switzerland, Hamburg, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Brandenburg. The investigations are linked to the 2022 abduction of the Block children from their father's home in Denmark.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the children were allegedly abducted by employees of an Israeli security firm and brought to their mother in Germany on New Year's Eve 2023/24. However, the father noticed suspicious persons at his residence and called the police, preventing the crime from being completed.
The suspects are accused of having accepted a commission from Christina Block, a gastronomy entrepreneur, for child abduction as responsible parties of a security firm. Block is accused of having commissioned the retrieval operation. She denies this.
Ingo Bott, Block's lawyer in the trial about the New Year's Eve events, stated that the separate investigations against his client regarding the events of November 9, 2022, have been discontinued due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The Hamburg public prosecutor's office has also initiated a procedure against Christina Block on suspicion of false accusation and defamation, as she is suspected of submitting forged documents to the police to discredit her ex-husband and his lawyer involved in the custody battle.
The trial regarding the abduction of Block's children on New Year's Eve 2023/24 is ongoing at the Hamburg Regional Court. Hanning's lawyer, Leon Kruse, stated that Hanning categorically denies the false accusations against him.
The Hamburg public prosecutor's office is also checking whether and to what extent the two suspects, Hanning and the former LKA officer, were involved in the abduction of the two children on New Year's Eve. The proceedings against Christina Block regarding the false accusation and defamation are still ongoing, and the presumption of innocence applies.
The father did not return the children to their mother after a weekend visit in August 2021, allegedly in violation of the law. More than 100,000 euros were paid for the commission. The Danish police investigated Christina Block and other persons in connection with this, but discontinued the proceedings.
The two suspects, August Hanning and the retired LKA officer, are now being investigated for allegedly inciting the possession of child pornographic materials. However, the Hamburg public prosecutor's office has never investigated Stephan Hensel or his family lawyer for child pornography or pedophilia allegations.
The plan was to intercept the children on their way to school in South Denmark, distract their escort, and enable the mother to drive away with the children in a car. The Hamburg public prosecutor's office conducted raids on Tuesday on 13 objects in Germany and Switzerland in relation to the investigations.
