German police have finally managed to capture 31-year-old Yves Rausch, nicknamed 'Black Forest Rambo'. The heavily armed suspect accused of stealing combat weapons of officers was captured after a grueling six-day-long manhunt involving 2,500 cops. Rausch was arrested on late Friday from Germany's Black Forest, where he had taken shelter, according to authorities.
Rausch is accused of disarming several cops last week and running away with their weapons. He was reportedly carrying a bow and a set of arrows while he attacked the officers. However, German police have launched an investigation and the exact motive behind this is yet to be ascertained, said the authorities.
Man on the Run
Police said that they launched a massive manhunt in the 2,300 square mile woodlands to arrest Rausch who stole weapons of four armed officers at gunpoint and ran into the Black Forest. An elite team of officers, helicopters, police with thermal detectors and sniffer dogs were deployed to find Rausch.
He was finally detected on Friday evening six days after he ran away with the weapons, following a tip-off from a postal department worker. Rausch was located sitting in a bush "with four guns visible in front of him," said Juergen Rieger, the head of the search operation. He also had an axe and another gun on his lap, and there was a letter lying in front of him.
Rausch was finally arrested after a minor scuffle, which slightly injured him while an officer suffered an axe cut.
A Weapon Enthusiast?
The drama started last Sunday morning when police in the village of Oppenau reached Rauch for the first time after being alerted about a suspicious man with a bow and set of arrows. Officers responded and located a hut where a man was staying illegally. They conducted an ID check on him, and Rausch initially started cooperating.
However, he suddenly pulled a gun on the officers, threatening them and forcing them to hand over their service weapons. Since then he disappeared in the woods and the German press nicknamed him "Black Forest Rambo" after pictures emerged of him dressed in combat gear.
Preliminary investigation reveals that Rausch has been homeless since last year and took shelter in the hut where he was spotted on Sunday. Police also recovered various weapons and petrol canisters as well as a small shooting range in the apartment he had earlier lived before shifting to this hut.
Prosecutors have described Rausch as a "weapons enthusiast" but said he was banned from possessing weapons in 2010. According to German newspaper Bild, Rauch had left behind a two-page text at a local restaurant he had visited, in which he has called for "harmonious life in and within nature" that is being described as his "manifesto" by the German media.
