German police amused by false alarm

The Landespolizei (State's Police) of Lower Saxony responded urgently to a call-out in Uelzen last week when an alarm went off after hours in a bank. Having naturally expected to find that a serious crime was in progress, the officers were puzzled to find the bank's doors still locked and no signs that any crime had taken place.

The officers, electing to be on the safe side, called the bank's caretaker to get the doors unlocked. They went inside to investigate further and undertook a full search, which confirmed that no-one had forced entry and that the vault had not been tampered with. It was at this point, however, that the officers discovered that a spider had crawled onto a motion sensor, thus triggering the bank's alarm system.

Fortunately, the officers took the matter in good humour. “After thorough questioning the spider was told to move on. It'll have to look now for a new home," a police statement joked.