German crime boss’s big-cat-loving son issues plea for Beast of Berlin lion, saying he wants to ‘lead the lioness back to her enclosure before some idiot shoots her’

• Firas Remmo, son of crime boss Issa Remmo, joined search for lioness in Berlin
• He issued plea for details on whereabouts of big cat before ‘idiot shoots her’

A German crime boss’s son has issued a plea for information on the whereabouts of the lioness that is prowling through the streets of Berlin, saying he wants to lead the predator back to her enclosure before ‘some idiot shoots her down’.

Firas Remmo, the son of notorious Berlin clan boss Issa Remmo and a lover of big cats, revealed he has joined the search for the missing lioness that has been spotted in the city’s outskirts.

Remmo, whose family is regarded as one of the most dangerous players in the so-called ‘Arab mafia’ in Berlin, urged anyone with information on the lioness’s whereabouts to contact him before the police so they can’t shoot the predator.

Remmo, who has shared pictures of himself sitting on a sofa next to a young tiger cub, wrote on Instagram: ‘If anyone knows anything please let me know first then we can drive the lioness back to her enclosure before some idiot shoots her down.’ 

German police officers armed with guns are today scouring the southern districts of Berlin for the lioness, which will likely be sedated with a tranquiliser if found. But the local mayor has admitted that if there is an immediate danger to human life, the lioness would be shot.

Firas Remmo (pictured with a tiger in December), the son of notorious Berlin clan boss Issa Remmo and a lover of big cats, revealed he had joined the search for the missing lioness that has been spotted in the city’s outskirts

Remmo, who has shared pictures of himself sitting on a sofa next to a young tiger cub (pictured), wrote on Instagram: ‘If anyone knows anything please let me know first then we drove the lioness back to her enclosure before some idiot shoots her down.

Police officers begin another day of searching for a lioness that is on the loose in Berlin in Kleinmachnow on Friday

Police officers armed with guns search through a wood in Kleinmachnow, southern Berlin, for the lioness on Friday 

Remmo, who referred to the lioness as ‘Nala’, has responded by urging Berlin residents to contact him, while those who know him have also spread the message. 

He shared a post on Instagram from a user who said: ‘I think there are still people who love animals. Please let Nala live and please don’t shoot her. If you see the lioness, please report to Firas Remmo. Thanks.’

Remmo’s family have been linked to a series of eye-catching raids across Berlin, including the theft of a giant gold coin from a Berlin museum and an £8billion bank robbery which ended in the branch blowing up. 

His plea for help in finding the lioness is also not the first time he has been linked to big cats. In December, he posted a video on Instagram of himself and a caption ‘my new favourite pet’ – all of which prompted a police investigation. 

It comes as Berlin residents reported seeing the lioness and hearing lion roars last night in the Zehlendorf area near the city limits, Berlin police said.

Officers equipped with guns, night-vision goggles and drones scoured the area throughout the night, but couldn’t find the lioness.

Residents living in the southern districts of the city – Kleinmachnow, Teltow and Stahnsdorf – have been advised to stay in their homes and to keep all doors and windows closed. But some Berliners decided to defy the orders today and walk their dogs in a forest in the Zehlendorf area.

It comes as experts on animal tracks joined the hunt today – but some began to doubt whether a lion is actually on the loose and suggested it could have been another wild boar instead. 

Video on Twitter appeared to show a lioness wandering through foliage in Kleinmachnow

The danger area where police believe a lioness is roaming the streets of Berlin

A professional animal track searcher looks for signs of the lioness in Kleinmachnow on Friday

Kleinmachnow mayor Michael Grubert said while on the hunt that he believed the animal could just be a wild boar. 

He said: ‘You see, when you see the wild boar now, you can already imagine that if it’s a bit brighter in the evening light, that you think that’s a lion. 

‘Deep fake videos is a bit exaggerated. But it can of course be that because of the incidence of light, that maybe the car headlights, the darkness of the night simulates it a bit, as if it were a lion. 

‘And it may just have been a wild boar again. The video we do assume though that it is real.’

A neighbour added: ‘I’m not sure by now if it’s really a lion when no remains whatsoever of a wild boar that has been killed have been found. I wonder if there was some wrong identification there.’ 

Grubert told local public broadcaster RBB late Thursday that authorities would comb the forest near Kleinmachnow and Zehlendorf on Friday with ‘professional animal track searchers.’

‘We have to say that this can’t carry on for days,’ he said, adding that he expected the search to ‘intensify’ on Friday. 

The search began after two locals saw the the escaped lioness chasing a wild boar down in the Kleinmachnow suburb in the early hours of Thursday morning. 

There have been a series of sightings of the lioness since then – by locals, police officers and firefighters – but each time, the predator escapes from their view and they are unable to trace it again.

Hunter Peter Hemmerden, who has been involved in the search, said: ‘If there was a lion that would pose an immediate danger to the wild boars and its offspring, they wouldn’t be this calm.

‘We just got the message that along with the group of boars also a lion supposedly ran into the forest. 

‘This message turned out to be wrong. Because the group is still very calm right there in the forest and if there was a predator around looking for food the group would act very differently and definitely wouldn’t be here. 

‘So this message, like a lot of others, once again doesn’t support the existence of any lion.’

‘At this point I don’t believe it’s a lion anymore, there’s a small remaining chance but it’s much more likely according to my analysis and when looking at all the pictures and videos that it was a boar in the video.’

Police officers walk through a forest in Kleinmachnow during their search for a lioness in Berlin on Friday

Police officers and a hunter gather to search for a lioness roaming the streets in Kleinmachnow, Berlin, on Friday 

Police officers and a hunter begin their search of woods in Kleinmachnow, Berlin, on Friday 

Panzers! German police use a Survivor ‘panzerwagen’, an armoured vehicle, amid a search for a rogue lioness in the south of Berlin, on July 20, 2023

German police spokesman Daniel Keip said: ‘In the summer, you often hear reports of crocodiles in swimming lakes and then it turns out all it was, was a big duck. In this case, it’s obviously totally real. 

‘We’re dealing with a lioness that’s roaming freely through Teltow, Stahnsdorf and Kleinmachnow.’

At around 7pm last night, another sighting of the reported lioness in a forest by Kleinmachnow district prompted a flurry of activity by police officers. 

‘We’re in a hot phase right now, she was just seen,’ a police officer told a local resident, reports German newspaper Bild.

Joggers were barred from entering the woodland by officers, as the search appeared to be ‘heating up’ in the evening with one officer screaming ‘get out of the wood, quickly’ to runners. 

Police have been joined by professional hunters and vets, armed with tranquilising guns and pistols, in an attempt to safely capture the lioness – believed to be a private pet – but to no avail. 

They said on Friday morning that the search was unsuccessful during the night and was continuing. They urged people to call an emergency number if they see the animal. 

Officers have insisted that the operational measures in place will ‘continue until a risk to the population can be ruled out’. 

No zoos have reported a missing lioness, leading to questions about where the animal could have came from. 

There are 32 registered lions in Brandenburg state surrounding Berlin and they were accounted for, reported RBB, leaving police to ask whether the beast had been kept illegally. No owner has come forward since the search began early Thursday.

Police were first alerted early on Thursday after two people saw what appeared to be a lioness chasing a wild boar down a street less than (three miles) from the German capital. 

Residents living in the southern districts of the city – Kleinmachnow, Teltow and Stahnsdorf – have been advised to stay in their homes and to keep all doors windows closed. But some defiant Berliners decided to defy the orders today and walk their dogs in a forest in the Zehlendorf area (pictured) 

Hunters and vets were reportedly helping track down the animal in Germany

A woman carries a tranquilizer gun as members from the veterinary office search for the lioness

Police cars drive out of the forest where the predatory cat is supposed to be on Thursday

The two passersby spotted the feline around midnight in the Kleinmachnow suburb, southwest of Berlin.

They shared mobile phone footage of the animal with police, who believe the images are genuine, Kleinmachnow mayor Michael Grubert told a press conference.

‘Even experienced officers had to conclude that it was probably a lioness,’ a police spokesperson told local broadcaster RBB.

The animal was later also spotted by police officers themselves, said Kerstin Schroeder, police spokeswoman in the Brandenburg region around Berlin. 

Local authorities were seen driving armoured vehicles – ‘panzerwagens’ – through residential areas as a helicopter with thermal imaging circles overhead.

Thorsten Thaddey was out for a morning jog in Kleinmachnow yesterday when he was stopped by police, who told him a wild animal might be roaming the nearby forest.

‘I have to be honest, I panicked a bit. Because it’s a different calibre compared to a normal dog or another pet that has run away,’ he said. ‘So I’m going to run home now.’

Kleinmachnow mayor Michael Grubert said it was not the time ‘to go jogging in the woods’.

A police spokesperson was forced to admit: ‘We don’t know where it came from.’ 

Since no zoos or circuses have reported a missing lioness, police believe she must be an escaped pet. 

Once the animal is found, it will likely be sedated with a tranquiliser and taken to an animal shelter, the mayor said. But Grubert added that if there was an immediate danger to human life, the lioness would be shot.

Anyone crossing paths with the feline should ‘seek safety immediately and call the police,’ Brandenburg police said. 

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