Dateline: SwedenA murder suspect on Sweden’s most wanted list tried to turn himself in to police, but was told to go someplace else. Saleh Hadri, 45, is wanted in connection with the killing of a gang leader in 2011. Alex Ghara Mohammadi, the suspected leader of the Brödraskapet Wolfpack gang, was gunned down in a taxi depot in Malmö. Hadri, the owner of the taxi business, has been on the run for almost 15 months after being named the prime suspect in the case. After allegedly fleeing to Egypt, Hadri returned to Malmö and tried to surrender at a police station on the evening of Feb. 18. After ringing the doorbell, Hadri was told through an intercom system that it was after 6 p.m. and the station was closed. According to Malmö’s Sydsvenskan newspaper, the suspect told officers, “Closed? I’m suspected of murder and a wanted man. You guys really want to get ahold of me.” The officers refused to open the door and sent him to a nearby station. After traveling 20 minutes to the other station, Hadri was arrested and taken into custody. Hadri’s lawyer says his client is innocent and “had nothing to do” with the gang leader’s killing. Swedish criminal justice expert Sven-Erik Alhem told the national Expressen newspaper, “It seems really strange and totally bizarre that he was told to go away when he’s suspected of murder. He must have been very confused.” Asked about the turnaway, Malmö police commander Anders Oxelbrand cited ongoing building renovations, telling Sydsvenskan, “Things are a bit messy right now.” Dateline: TexasAfter reporting being violently robbed of $1,000 at gunpoint, a married man was forced to admit he’d actually spent all the money at a local strip club. Jesus Mata Jr., 23, of La Feria, TX., told police six gunmen in two trucks ambushed him at gunpoint with assault weapons and stole his $1,000 tax refund. “We followed a wild goose chase and ended up with no one. We followed a couple of leads that led us nowhere,” La Feria Police Chief Don Garcia told KRGV-TV. “Our main priority was to take care of the citizens of La Feria.” After their investigation turned up several inconsistencies in his story, police called Mata back for a follow-up interview. He eventually confessed to making up the crime because he didn’t want his wife to find out where his money actually went—into the G-strings at Whispers strip club. “I started drinking some Bud Light and I got a couple of lap dances. … I was there until they closed at 2 a.m.,” Mata stated in his confession. He was arrested and charged with filing a false report.Dateline: CaliforniaPolice in San Diego believe a couple of burglars who used a pickup truck to smash through the doors of a Hooters restaurant and make off with a jukebox probably thought they were stealing an ATM. The incident happened shortly after 4 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19. The suspects, believed to be two males in their late teens or 20s, went through a lot of effort to break into the business and make off with the heavy machine. Unable to drive completely though the glass doors, the two ended up wrapping a tow strap around the freestanding, five-foot-tall jukebox and driving off with it. Steve Price, a self-described “regular” at the restaurant told KGTV, “Maybe with all the drinks and all the hooters going around, their brains were just not thinking straight.”Dateline: FloridaNathaniel Lee Smith, 29, of Lauderdale Lakes called police to report a missing crowbar and black skull cap. “A small crowbar, a miniature crowbar, uh, my black skully was with my book bag,” Smith is heard saying on the 911 tape. Suspicious over such a small claim, police investigated the alleged theft and now say Smith was simply tying to cover up a bungled burglary attempt. Police in Broward County say Smith admitted to using the crowbar in at least two residential burglaries. During his last burglary at a condo complex, Smith accidentally barged in on a 66-year-old resident who sprayed him in the face with window cleaner and managed to disarm him. In fleeing, Smith lost both his crowbar and his skull cap—which he then tried to report stolen in order to throw police off his trail. He’s now being held in the Broward Main Jail without bond.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. Email your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
