German blackmailer sent mail ‘by accident’

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

Steinbrueck (L) of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) signs autographs following an election campaign rally in the western German city of Essen. AP photo

A blackmail letter sent to the election rival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel was mailed by accident, its author told officials on Sept. 9, after turning himself in.

The man, whose identity was not revealed, said the letter had been penned “in a fit of passing anger” but that he did not plan to send it, the public prosecutor’s office in the western city of Bonn said.

The letter had found itself into a pile of mail to be sent out, but the man only discovered it had reached the home of Peer Steinbrueck, who will seek to unseat Merkel in Sept. 22 elections, when he read about the story in the press, the office said.

A day after the mystery of the blackmail letter was unveiled, German police have arrested a man over an alleged far-right plot to use explosives mounted on a model airplane against political opponents, authorities said. The unidentified 23-year-old suspect, a known right-wing extremist, allegedly incited another man, 42, to build the device, the police said.