German police hunt 'Cookie Monster' over theft of gold biscuit
German police have launched a hunt for the "Cookie Monster" after an iconic golden biscuit was stolen from one of the country's most famous biscuit makers.
By Matthew Day
3:00PM GMT 05 Feb 2013
An empty space marks the spot where, until earlier this month, the gilded bronze sculpture graced the facade of the cookie baker's Hanover office.
The symbol has disappeared and according to a ransom note sent to a German newspaper, the sign won't be returned until Bahlsen supplies cookies to all the rooms at a local children's hospital.
"I have the cookie! And you want it," the letter read, according to the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ) newspaper.
The letter - comprised in the traditional ransom note style of newspaper cuttings - is said to be signed by a "Cookie Monster".
The individual wants Bahlsen to supply the hospital with its Leibniz biscuits, preferably the whole milk variety.
Accompanying the note is a photo of someone wearing a Sesame Street-style costume and snaffling what appears to be the golden cookie.
Police are not sure if it is the same cookie, or a real claim of responsibility.
The real Cookie Monster has assured followers on Twitter that he is not the culprit. "Me no steal the golden cookie. But me willing to help find real cookie thief!" (http://t.co/CAdohpVu)
It is unclear how the symbol was taken, but police say witnesses reported having seen two men with a ladder in the area earlier this month.
The company had offered €1,000 for information leading to the cookie's recovery.
The biscuit baker has also pledged to give 52,000 packs of Leibniz biscuits to 52 social institutions if the golden cookie is returned.
Bahlsen assured HAZ that the events of the last few weeks were not a marketing campaign.
The local children's hospital has spoken out against the coercion.
"One cannot forget that what we are dealing with here is a case of theft and blackmail," a hospital spokesperson told HAZ. "Bahlsen has already done a lot for our hospital - it doesn't need to be coerced in this way."
Cookie Monster's 'golden biscuit' found hanging from horse
A "golden biscuit" stolen from a German biscuit manufacturer by a thief claiming to be the Sesame Street character the Cookie Monster has been found hanging from an equine statue in Hanover.
By Matthew Day
3:00PM GMT 05 Feb 2013
German crime scene detectives in masks and rubber gloves, and aided by a fire brigade ladder, removed the 20 kilogram, biscuit-shaped ornament from a statue of a rearing horse outside Hanover's Leibniz University.
The case of the golden biscuit made international headlines when the "Cookie Monster" wrote a letter to Bahlsen, the owners of the sign and a household name in the world of German biscuits and a local paper saying that he had been responsible for its theft in mid-January.
If Bahlsen wanted to see the sign that had graced the exterior of their offices since 1913 again, the letter said, they would have to donate free biscuits to a children's hospital. A failure to comply would mean the sign would join Grouch, a rubbish-bin-dwelling Sesame Street character.
Werner Bahlsen, the company's chief executive, promised to donate 52,000 biscuit packets to 52 different organisations, including the hospital, if the sign was returned unscathed.
Just before the sign was found, a local newspaper received a second letter from the Cookie Monster saying that he would return it because "Werni" (Werner Bahlsen) was "crying because he misses it so much".
The letter was also accompanied by a photograph of somebody dressed as the Cookie Monster pretending to take a bite out of the golden biscuit.
Oh, I would so totally hench for this criminal genius! It'd probably be the only time my Reubensque figure would be appropriate for cape and spandex shenanigans!
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