Major police alert on Wednesday evening on the Western Railway in Tyrol: A witness claims to have seen suspected double murderer Roland Drexler, who is now wanted throughout the EU, on a train. The stricken train was stopped and searched. There were also operations at other train stations.
A witness raised the alarm with the police early on Wednesday evening. “The person stated that he had seen a passenger who appeared to be a fugitive criminal on a train that had just departed from the main station in Innsbruck or that he suspected that this was the reported criminal.”
The suspected criminal identified was Roland Drexler, who reportedly literally executed two people in Upper Austria on Monday. The police did not want to officially confirm this. However, according to information from “Krone”, the operation was aimed at the Drexler who was allegedly spotted.
A major police operation was then launched and the train in question was stopped at Ötztal-Bahnhof station (Imst district) around 7:25 p.m. “There were about 80 passengers on the train who were being checked. However, the wanted criminal could not be identified,” the investigators continued.
Also searches other train stations
In addition, “extensive searches” were launched in the vicinity of the other train stations between Innsbruck and Ötztal-Bahnhof, “all of which also had negative results.”
Surveillance camera images
In the meantime, images from surveillance cameras had been viewed. “It turned out that the man was not the suspect we were looking for and the operation was finally terminated around 10:30 p.m.,” investigators said.
The police action forced train traffic in the Ötztal station area to be completely halted for about 45 minutes.
Drexler could be carrying weapons
So far, Roland Drexler, who is considered “very dangerous,” has not been caught. The suspected shooter is now being searched across the EU. Police believe Drexler may have two long guns and a handgun. He is also believed to be driving a silver VW Caddy with license plate RO-231EL.
The two fatalities are Franz Hofer (64), mayor of the municipality of Kirchberg ob der Donau, and retired police officer (64) Josef Hartl. Both men were hunting for Drexler’s associates.
Source: Krone
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