Guard hero in escape

Press, 29 May 1978, Page 8

Guard hero in escape

NZPA Berlin A five-woman commando team has freed an alleged terrorist, Till Meyer, from West Berlin’s, high-security Moabit Prison, but has failed in a bid to free another, Andreas Vogel. Meyer and Vogel were on trial in Berlin in connection with the kidnappim; of the West Berlin Christian Democrat Party Chairman (Peter Lorenz) and the murder of Judge Gunther von Drenkman.

The West German Minister for Justice (Juergen Baumann) said the raid had begun when two women gained entry on Saturday to the prison by presenting

. official lawyers’ identity cards. , The cards were reportedly shown a second time to gain passage through an armoured door to interview rooms where the two alleged terrorists were conferring separately with their lawyers. The women had pulled guns equipped with silencers from their clothing and had taken a guard hostage, Mr Baumann said. A second guard had then arrived unexpectedly, quickly disarming one of the women and shutting himself into the interview room occupied by Vogel and his lawyer. Training the weapon on Vogel and the lawyer, the

guard had sounded an alarm. One of the women ha' raked th door to the room with .gunfire, Mr Baumann said, before leading Meyer and the other guard toward an exit.

When they ran into a heavy grille lowered into place by the alarm, the women had threatened to kill their hostage unless the bars were removed. One had shot the hostage in the foot to show they meant business, Mr Baumann said. The grille had been raised |and the women and Meyer i had jumped into a minibus with three other women in|side and sped off, leaving jtheir hostage behind, the i police said.