Inmate on the run: ankle bracelet keys were available on the Internet

In October, a prisoner in Essen was freed by accomplices during a doctor's visit and has been on the run ever since. Now the NRW Justice Minister admitted: The key to the ankle bracelet was given by e

Start video, cancel with Escape ankle bracelet: Key is available on the internet Image source: Jörg Steinkamp/WDR Current Hour . November 5, 2026. 28 min. 42 sec. subtitles. Available until November 5th, 2028. WDR. By Fritz Sprengart.

Justice Minister Limbach reported a sensitive detail to the Legal Affairs Committee about the liberation of a pre-trial prisoner in Essen.

In the public part of the meeting of the state parliament's legal committee on Wednesday, NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) reported little new about the Essen case. The man is still on the run. In the non-public part, the minister then revealed a little more.

The prisoner, who was forcibly freed during a doctor's visit in Essen, was wearing ankle bracelets that could be opened with a key from the Internet. According to dpa, Limbach confidentially informed the state parliament's legal committee that the shackles did not have an individual lock. Rather, a universal key that also works for identical models was suitable. You can buy such keys online for less than ten euros.

Officially, the Ministry of Justice in Düsseldorf initially did not want to confirm or deny the information when asked by WDR on Thursday. According to WDR information, Limbach is said to have reported this in the committee.

In an interview with WDR on Thursday afternoon, the minister said: "Of course, after an incident like the one in Essen, we will have to check where we may have to rework our security architecture." The inspection also included the ankle bracelets.

When asked more specifically, Limbach replied that the ankle bracelets were the subject of the investigation - he didn't want to prejudge that. It is still being determined whether the escaped prisoner's helpers actually used a key from the Internet or whether they received help from a prison employee, for example.

The whole phenomenon first became public in February when an arrested man in Bavaria opened his handcuffs. Afterwards, a small inquiry from the FDP in the Düsseldorf state parliament revealed that the police in North Rhine-Westphalia use the same handcuff model. Accordingly, the NRW police have 40,014 handcuffs of the affected model with a double-bit key. The handcuff model has also been used in a forensic clinic run by the Rhineland Regional Association.

In the same answer, the NRW state government pointed out that although handcuffs with a universal lock are not used in the judiciary, "a comparable restraint system as an ankle bracelet" is used. In response to a request from WDR, the Ministry of Justice on Thursday gave the number of 1,200 corresponding ankle bracelets that were used in the judiciary as of 2020.

The police union in North Rhine-Westphalia is alarmed. "That's not possible. It can't be the case that shackles can generally be opened by third parties," said GdP state vice-president Ernst Herget. This must be remedied as quickly as possible. He demands that security authorities be given secure restraints “quickly”.

He was “stunned that you can order the corresponding keys on the Internet,” said FDP state leader Henning Höne. Security authorities should be able to take action against this. “I am becoming more and more aware that Justice Minister Limbach has actually lost control of the entire judiciary for a long time and that there is a complete loss of control,” said the opposition politician.

Start audio, cancel with Escape JVA scandals: State parliament hardly keeps up with clarification | Start more video, cancel with Escape live ticker to read: Inmate Dijvar Gündüz still on the run | More fuss about secret information about ankle bracelets in the Essen case WDR Studios NRW. November 5, 2026. 1 min 1 sec. Available until November 4th, 2028. WDR Online.

Start audio, cancel with Escape Our sources: WDR research news agency dpaLegal committee meeting in the state parliamentMinister Limbach in the WDR interviewGdP state deputy Herget in the WDR interviewFDP state and state parliamentary group leader Höne in the WDR interview Broadcast: WDR.de, fuss about secret information about ankle bracelets in the Essen case November 5th, 2026, 10:20 Watch broadcast: WDR television, current hour, November 5th, 2026, 6:45 p.m