The cellophane-wrapped body of Uwe Gemballa has been found in South Africa. Founder of well known German tuning firm Gemballa Automobiletechnik, the company recently relaunched under new ownership.
While details are limited, police believe Uwe's murder was tied to an illegal money laundering scheme with Czech crime boss Radovan Krejcir. According to testimony, Gemballa and Krejcir had been cahooting on nefarious transactions since 2002 but, in September of last year, problems arose. It appears Gemballa wasn't making payments on time and Krejcir told him, "...you're a dead man."
After this phone call, an associate of Krejcir lured Gemballa to South Africa under the guise of setting up a business agreement. Airport surveillance shows Uwe being picked up by a light-skinned man, believed to be a Russian associate of Krejcir, on February 8th. Afterwards, the two traveled to a house and Uwe (or someone claiming to be him) was forced to call his wife and ask for one million dollars. When the money didn't arrive, Uwe was killed.
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