Kidnappings in Germany

Tobacco mogul Jan Reemtsma was held for 33 days

BBC News Online looks back at Germany's history of high-profile kidnappings, some of which ended bloodily:

• September 2002 Police confirm the death of Jakob von Metzler, 11, of the Metzler banking dynasty whose abandoned body is found in a lake north of Frankfurt after the payment of a ransom of one million euros (about $1m). A suspect is arrested.

• October 1996 Jakub Fiszman, a Frankfurt millionaire businessman, is kidnapped and murdered despite the payment of a ransom of 4 m marks ($2.6 m). A man is later arrested. Mr Fiszman's six-year-old nephew, Peter Fiszman, was kidnapped in 1991 in Cologne along with a schoolmate but both were released two days later after a ransom was paid.

• March 1996 Hamburg tobacco heir Jan Philipp Reemtsma is abducted and held for one month before his captors free him in return for 30 m marks ($13 m). A suspect is extradited from Argentina for trial in Germany in 2000.

• September 1977 Leftwing terror group the Red Army Faction abducts prominent industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer, demanding the release from prison of fellow members including Andreas Baader. The government refuses to concede and Mr Schleyer is murdered after 43 days.

• December 1971 Theo Albrecht, co-owner of the Aldi supermarket chain, is released 17 days after being abducted in Dusseldorf for a ransom of about $2.1 m.