NEW YEAR RAPE HORROR

Cologne New Year gang rapes took place because ‘drunk’ untrained migrants were in charge of security and simply abandoned their posts

Shocking details emerge showing asylum seekers with 'basic' German walked away from their patrols

UNTRAINED refugees were deployed as security personnel on New Year's Eve in Cologne last year, it has been revealed.

Many abandoned their posts and at least one was so drunk he couldn't work.

Advertisement
Hundreds of women were groped and assaulted by mainly North African migrants in Cologne on New Year's Eve 2016Credit: dpa
Dozens of arrests were made but understaffed security lost control of Cologne city centreCredit: PA:Press Association Images
Untrained migrants were put in charge of security in areas of the city but abandoned their posts leading to carnage at the train stationCredit: PA:Press Association Images

A total of 59 asylum seekers were stationed on bridges across the Rhine to assist in a mammoth security operation aimed at stopping any trouble.

Last year mobs of mostly North African men sexually assaulted and robbed hundreds of women in and around the city's main railway station as police lost control.

On September 7 2015 authorities made the decision to give some refugees a role in the policing of celebrations — a fact which has only just emerged.

Related Stories

'WOMEN MOSTLY TO BLAME'
Syrian refugee says WOMEN are responsible for Cologne sex attacks as they 'shouldn't be out alone'
'you cannot touch me'
Terrified woman screams at migrants as new footage of Cologne New Year's Eve sex attacks shows cops completely outnumbered
SAVED BY THEIR TIGHTS
Cologne sex assault victims only escaped rape by mobs of migrants because they wore TIGHTS
GUNMEN ON THE RUN
Attackers on the loose 'with axes' after launching gun and knife assault in Cologne city centre

Security firm Westturm was in charge of hiring the migrants who were told to have a "basic mastery of the German language and to bring along warm clothing."

Advertisement
a list of those who were hired on Thursday. Most came from North Africa, Syria and Afghanistan.

They were paid five euros an hour — £4.25 — which is little more than half of the statutory minimum wage in Germany.

But the city of Cologne was billed three times as much by the security agency which recruited them.

The calibre of personnel caused concern long before the fateful night.

Advertisement

A former senior executive of Westturm told Bild: "Our employees collected the refugees in three initial reception centres in Ratingen and brought them in minibuses to the bridges where they were stationed.

"We knew not at all exactly who these people were. They got a security vest and some radios."

Hundreds more police are being drafted in to patrol Cologne train station this yearCredit: PA:Press Association Images
Officials are desperate to avoid a repeat of last year's shocking scenes outside Cologne train stationCredit: dpa
Advertisement

Cologne authorities are taking no chances this year and are flooding the city with 1,500 police — ten times the number on duty in 2015 — to stop a repeat of the disgraceful scenes.

Police are particularly worried about the Hohenzollern railway bridge over the Rhine which leads into the station.

There were fears last year that the mass numbers of people crossing it could have led to a crushing incident and trains had to be cancelled because of the number of people pouring across.

Refugees were stationed on it to assist in crowd control.

Advertisement

Twenty were also assigned to the Zoo Bridge and others were stationed on the Deutzer and Severnin bridges.

But things quickly began to go awry.

Order broke down as rapists and gropers ran riot in Cologne on New Year's Eve last yearCredit: PA:Press Association Images
Too few police coupled with drunk and untrained migrant security guards helped fuel the sick crime spree in Cologne last yearCredit: Getty Images
Advertisement

Five of the 20 refugees on the Zoo Bridge vanished from their posts almost immediately — but timesheets from the Westturm firm showed the city was billed five hours for each of them.

On the Deutzer bridge a guard called Arif had to quit his post because he was drunk and his replacement, a man called Süyleman, left after two hours.

On the Hohenzollern Bridge refugee Kemal lost his radio and then walked off the job almost immediately after starting his shift.

A spokesman for Cologne city council said it had not had any problem with the Westturm company in the past.

Advertisement


Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368


Topics
Advertisement
machibet777.com