German police arrest couple wanted for carjacking, shooting

A Dutch couple on the run from the police after a string of violent incidents has been arrested in the German town of Schwerte, Dutch media say on Wednesday afternoon, quoting German police.

The pair were found in a hotel in the town, which is some 70 km south east of Dortmund. No-one was hurt when the arrests were made, news agency ANP says.

The car hijacked by the couple was found earlier on Wednesday in the Germany city of Münster. ‘The car was spotted by a passerby. It was parked quite normally,’ a police spokesman told news agency ANP.

The international police organisation Interpol was also involved in the hunt for the couple.

Dangerous

Antonio Marcos van der Ploeg (25) and Enise Merve Bircan (19) are described by police as ‘highly dangerous’ and have been hunted by Dutch police for the past two weeks.

The pair kidnapped a family in Enschede on Monday evening and took the father with them in his car. He was later freed in the German border town of Ahaus, while Van der Ploeg and Bircan drove off in his blue Honda CRV.

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