German provincial spy boss caused bomb scare

Günter Heiss

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The director of German’s domestic intelligence organization in the state of Lower Saxony will receive a fine for instigating a bomb scare by leaving his briefcase unattended during a social gathering. Günter Heiss, who heads the northwester German state’s office of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz), has admitted responsibility for the blunder. He was among 700 guests at a cocktail party hosted in the Hannover city hall by Lower Saxony’s Christian Democratic parliamentary group. But the city hall had to be evacuated and the premises searched by an anti-terrorist police unit, after Heiss’s seemingly abandoned briefcase was discovered near the buffet. It was only after the briefcase was opened by bomb disposal squad experts that the identity of its owner became known. Hanover police say they are still in the process of determining the fine amount.