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Subscribe to RSSDrivers taking a van loaded with 12 occupied coffins to a German crematorium returned from a bathroom break to discover the vehicle had been stolen, local reports said Thursday.
Police in the state of Brandenburg told NBC News that the van was one of three vehicles stolen in the early hours of Monday from an industrial car park at Hoppegarten, near Berlin.
According to local media reports, the drivers were taking a bathroom break on their way to a crematorium in the eastern German city of Meissen when they returned to find their vehicle gone.
And on Thursday afternoon, the thieves were still on the run with their unusual heist.
“We have not found the bodies yet,” police spokesman Peter Salender told NBC News.
The thieves were apparently unaware that the locked vehicle contained 12 neatly-stowed coffins.
Under the headline “Car Thieves Stole My Mother’s Body”, German mass circulation newspaper Bild on Thursday identified the daughter of one of the deceased.
Officials suspect that a gang may have been supplying stolen vehicles to customers in eastern Europe, since another of the three vans have since been found in the western Polish city of Poznan.
“One of the three vehicles that were stolen at the car park has been found in Poland, but we are continuing to investigate in all directions,” Salender said.
"Given that three vehicles were stolen at the same time and because of the fact that one van was found in Poland already, we are led to believe that this is the work of organized criminals in eastern Europe," Ulrich Scherding, spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Frankfurt/Oder told NBC News.
About 8,000 people were evacuated from a town in northwestern Germany after a 550-pound bomb from World War II was found. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
"Poland has mutated to a transit country for stolen vehicles, so that the vans could end up further east," Scherding added.
According to information obtained by NBC News, the vehicle with the bodies was not equipped with cooling devices.
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Boss: The other gang is encroaching, we need more bodies on the ground.
Driver/Thief : Yes boss, I'll take care of it.
The worst part? The van didn't have a cooler. Luckily it's autumn so temps should be lower than in July or similar.
Nothing beats a cold twelve pack after work.
I think the thieves will find a way to still make money off these bodies. The gov is making money off the rest of us "stiffs". So, they will find a way.
A www, Vermillion sky, you just ruined what was funny with your posts. Shame on you.
post
One of the dead probably woke up and got really pi$$ed so he took the van...
This story just screams for satire. The movie will be called either " The Not in the Dirt Dozen ", or 'Weekend with Hermies ". The thief who stole the van told his boss, '' I stopped off and got a couple of cold ones ". Will the theif be charged with auto theft, or aiding and abetting zombies ? Whether caught or not, the thieves are in for stiff penalties. This is an ongoing problem with the Germans, keeping track off all the bodies. Volkswagon will start a new campaign that these passengers suffer from " far from pooping ". Lastly, will the American campaign pick up on this story. Either Strange we can believe in, or the final 1 percenters ?
Q. How do they separate the mature male stiffs from the adolescent male stiffs in Russia?
A. With a crow bar.
Someone is going to have one kicka$$ Haunted House.
Funny kim!
This makes me think of Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith where they were moving drugs and money inside coffins and bodies.
Also, I know that when I rode with my uncle to take a body to a crematorium, it was in a large cardboard box, not a coffin (in the usual sense of a coffin)
Martin Lawrence was hilarious in that scene. Acting all sick and uneasy! Then throwing up! HAHAHA Great movie!
While on the way to the Forum, err; louvre.
There is a happy ending to this. All of the bodies were able to complete their absentee ballot for Obama in time for the election. Chicago politics has long arms...........even to Germany.
I see a Collapsed By The Community in your future. Obamanites will not stand for this blasphemy.
It's not that we won't stand for it, myspellcheckerisbroken...it's just that we've been waiting patiently for years for you morons to come up with a single case to back up your BS
@brian
It appears that you are calling me, as well as others, morons. I know that can't be the case because of the CoH on the newsvine. Also, I know you would never name call, because you are above that, right?
Brian first thing it is a joke, second I don't think the dead complain when people use them to vote (Box 13 LBJ).
Brian spellchecker didn't endorse or make the statement I did.............so why are you calling him a name? Spellchecker has in the past taken stands on people of extremism on the left and the right. You owe him an apology though I don't think you will give one as doing that would indicate a high intellect.
Brian please take note............I would rather have someone of your skill level in communication call me that name than for you to call me "friend" as that would really be an insult.
And Collapsed! I told you Gtouch. This is awesome. Welcome to Spellchecker World.
Gtouch, I knight thee Sir Collapsed By The Community.
Great I guess I need to change my business card to include. Sir Gtouch.
Ya Schultz, does you smell dat? Like you mothers armpit?? Ya Vol? Dumbkoff, why did you not check the back? I know nothing, nothing........
Gross.
Wonder where Dr Frankenstein is now? 12 bodies, 12 different parts to make a new creature to see if "...he lives."
Several possibilities:
Some very freaked out thieves.
Sudden influx of body parts for sale on e-bay.
One crazy Halloween party.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Dir hört, die Prügel-Trommel, die angibt, The Parade Inded weiter!
Immer Ihre Pal,
Dir
Hopefully it won't evolve into a necrophilia story.
No, but we sure are thinkin' it now! Thanks. And gross. If they stop and pick up a road kill would it be called necrobestiality?
It was probably a zoo owner getting feed for the lions and bears
its being reported now the 12 bodies have been shipped to chicago and will be voting for dear leader on nov 6th. its moochelles other secret weapon: the dead.
What's with this Moochelle? She isn't obese at all.
Leave it to a couple of Pollocks to steal a truck fulla stiffs, probably think it's a bunch of furniture. LOL
I love your "Aristocat" avatar.
This really sounds suspiciously like Muslim terrorists stocking up on commercial vehicles capable of infiltrating commercial areas and carrying lots of explosives...either that or the Mexican drug and human trafficking cartels are going to be bringing lots of illegal immigrants into Germany the hard way.
Which means not one member of any of those groups will notice the smell of rotting corpses--just business as usual.
I hope they somehow get locked in the van with the bodies...and it gets really hot. They deserve it.
--for some mysterious reason, ??? our media consistantly finds anything gross, odd, disgusting that happens to one person, or a small incident in germany or a german, and then brings it to the worlds attention. our tv, internet and talk shows like to bash germany. letterman does it almost every night. vehicles get stolen everyday with what ever they are carrying all over the world.
Twelve families are grievig and each one of you morons have nothing humane to say! I am assuming you all are Americans, which means you make the rest of us decent Americans look just as hateful stupid and disgusting to the many Europeans reading these posts. You should all be ashamed of yourselves, but perhaps this behavior is just a reflection of the ways you were raised.