GERMAN CRIMINALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1922, Page 5

GERMAN CRIMINALS.

A WOMAN’S REVELATIONS. BURGLARY 7 AND GOLD SMUGGLING. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyrlgtt. London, Msrch 5. The Daily Chronicle’s Berlin correspondent reports that two of Germany’s most dangerous criminals have been captured in a remarkable manner. A married couple recently eettled at Schwerin and appeared to be wealthy. They were received in good society and entertained lavishly. Suddenly the wife was taken ill and removed to hospital, when she was told that she must undergo an operation. She became alarmed at the prospect of an anaesthetic and confided to a nurse that she was afraid she might reveal things while unconscious. Later she said no one must know about 'a certain chest containing gold. The police heard of the story and guessed that the couple were smuggling gold to Holland. They searched the house and then found that the man was a locksmith named Droll and the woman a Bavarian named Slodow. The chest contained a large amount of minted bar gold, while the papers showed up the two criminals, against whom there were charges including the murder of an old woman near Lu’bect, and the theft of curios from Kynsburg Castle Museum, Silesia, worth many million marks. While posing as a wealthy couple they had carried out numerous burglaries at Schwerin. Droll has previously been imprisoned three times. He escaped from gaol once and joined the police as a detective and joined in the search for himself.