Bonn/Nümbrecht - A 44-year-old woman has been on trial in Bonn since Friday after investigators discovered not only a considerable arsenal of weapons but also a large quantity of drugs in her flat. One of the weapons was from the TV series Star Trek.

"Captain Picard would have been pleased," said Marc Euman, cradling the bat'leth in his hands with interest. The Klingon double sword, a standard prop in the popular Star Trek TV series, was part of an impressive arsenal of weapons that the presiding judge of the 10th Grand Criminal Chamber at the Bonn Regional Court had requested from the evidence room on Friday morning. At the start of the trial against a 44-year-old woman from Nümbrecht, the participants in the proceedings inspected four other weapons from the Star Trek universe as well as a whole range of other knives, swords and firearms.

The woman had been targeted by the investigators because of her boyfriend: The police were investigating four men from the region, among them the partner of the accused, on suspicion of illegal arms trafficking. The suspicion was not confirmed, however, and the case against the quartet was dismissed. But a surprising by-catch weighed heavier than the collection of weapons, which was probably intended almost exclusively for decorative purposes: the officers found 1.6 kilos of an amphetamine salt preparation in the woman's refrigerator when they searched her flat on 1 June 2021. They also found almost 980 grams of another amphetamine variant as well as 230 grams of cannabis and various drug equipment.

There is no need for the court to clarify whether the accused, a self-confessed gun nut, actually wanted to use the swords or the other weapons to protect herself in connection with the illegal drug trafficking that was going on in her flat: Dealers who keep objects that can be used as weapons at the point of sale always have to face charges of armed drug trafficking. And this offence carries a much higher penalty than "simple" drug trafficking.

In court, the woman admitted that the quantity went far beyond personal consumption. She had bought the preparation in the refrigerator for two euros per gram and, depending on the sales situation, had sometimes sold it to users for six to seven euros per gram. A verdict is expected in the middle of next month.

(Original text: Leif Kubik)

On Saturday afternoon at around 4.20 pm, the Swisttal fire brigade was alerted to a fire at the Miel waste disposal plant. According to Tobias Kalenborn, press spokesman for the Swisttal volunteer fire brigade, a fire started for an unknown reason in a dumpster on the grounds of the waste disposal facility. The fire brigade sent about 50 firefighters from the southern fire brigade (Odendorf, Ludendorf and Miel) and the Buschhoven fire brigade to fight the fire.

The firefighters extinguished the fire using breathing apparatus. Afterwards, an excavator was called in to pull apart the embers in the rubbish for the purpose of further fire-fighting. The operation ended at about 6.30 pm.

(Original text: Petra Reuter)

This Sunday, the police in North Rhine-Westphalia will make an exception and refrain from enforcing the Sunday driving ban for trucks. The NRW police are thus complying with a request by Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) in view of the nationwide traffic strike this Monday, as the state's interior ministry had already announced on Friday evening. According to the ministry, the NRW police will refrain from carrying out checks on the Sunday driving ban this week.

But according to the Association of Transport and Logistics North Rhine-Westphalia, no traffic jams caused by trucks are to be feared this Sunday. "We will see a few hundred more trucks on the motorway. But it's not like we have to fear traffic jams," Marcus Hover, deputy managing director of the VVWL NRW association, told the German Press Agency on Saturday. Although this measure in several federal states is a relief, it comes very, very late for the industry.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, when the information about the waiver of controls on the Sunday driving ban for trucks arrived on Friday afternoon, "the scheduling was completely done and dusted," explains Hover, referring to the processes in the haulage companies. Another problem is that on Sundays there are usually no consignees ready to receive goods at retail outlets or factory gates, even if the forwarding agents send trucks on their way at short notice. "I might be able to make a few kilometres in regional traffic, but then there is no one there to accept the goods," Hover explains.

Another problem is the driving schedule. Many drivers have already used up their budget for this week and are not allowed to do any additional or advanced hours behind the wheel. Hover assumes that the short-term waiver of controls on the Sunday driving ban for HGVs in several federal states will be used by haulage companies for international goods traffic rather than for journeys in regional goods traffic.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had announced that they would lift the ban on HGV driving on Sundays or would not carry out checks. Hauliers, trade and also Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing had previously lobbied for such an exception. The reason is the warning strike in the transport sector announced for Monday. Due to the extensive strikes in public transport as well as in train services, there could be traffic jams this Monday.