Mercenary shot in air drama

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33046, 13 October 1972, Page 13

Mercenary shot in air drama

(N.Z P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) FRANKFURT, October 12. The Frankfurt police are today piecing together the background of a West German mercenary they shot and wounded after a Lufthansa airliner he had threatened to blow up landed safely.

None of the other 57 passengers, or the seven crewmembers, aboard the Boeing 727, on a flight from Lisbon to Frankfurt, suffered in the drama last night. The mercenary—identified as Friedhelm Schuetz, aged 30, a Bavarian who was being deported by the Portugese authorities—received scalp, arm, and chest wounds from police bullets, and is recovering today from emergency surgery. Deported from the Portuguese African territory of Angola, Schuetz told the airliner’s senior officer. Captain Manfred Knuettel, that he had fought for a number of underground organisations in Africa. He also said that he was being sought by Interpol, and that thev were waiting for him in Frankfurt. He said he had a bomb, and showed Captain Knuettel a plastic beaker filled with an indefinable substance, and a wire poking out. He

threatened to blow up the airliner unless his demands were met. Schuetz told Captain Knuettel that he wanted a getaway car at Frankfurt Airport, 24 hours in which to escape with four hostages, and one thousand marks (about $250). Otherwise, he said, he would detonate the bomb. Captain Knuettel was able to maintain radio communication with Frankfurt Airport authorities, and the police had enough time to position two riot police units |at a spot to which the aircraft was directed. In addition, three sharpshooters were posted on a hangar roof. Schuetz was shot as he was making his way to the car he thought would take him to freedom. His “bomb” was taken away for examination, but the police have not yet disclosed if it was a real bomb.