Ms. H. approached the detectives of the Kurtz Corporate Detective Agency Hannover because, after many years and countless intrigues in the agricultural business she had founded, she had enough. She wanted to leave the company and enjoy a comfortable retirement with her share. However, her fellow shareholders put a stop to these plans.

 

Several hectares of fields, a small complex with four large storage halls, plus rapeseed and wheat worth several hundred thousand euros – all situated on the flat plains in the middle of nowhere in Lower Saxony. An interesting surveillance area for the corporate investigators of Kurtz Detective Agency Hannover.

The issue: For several years, Ms. H. had observed that large quantities of the company’s produce repeatedly disappeared – sold past her, in other words embezzled. The profits were pocketed solely by the other shareholders, or so the suspicion goes. Our Hannover detectives were now tasked with producing investigation results and clarity.

 

Ms. H. herself even lives within sight of the storage area, but she cannot conduct continuous surveillance day and night. Nor does she feel she has many allies in the neighbourhood who could report their own observations in her absence. “They’re all in cahoots anyway!” Ms. H. told our corporate detectives from Hannover.

 

Because the fields are constantly cultivated and the storage hall complex borders several other agricultural businesses with a lot of traffic, inspecting the surveillance location during daylight is impossible for the Hannover corporate detectives. The investigators must wait for darkness and, around 2:00 a.m., enter the area with night-vision equipment.

 

There is only one possible exit route, but vehicle surveillance there is not feasible because it is a federal road where vehicles only park several kilometres away. Prior to that, there are numerous turn-offs, so positioning in the nearest villages is not an option. Furthermore, recording trucks on the road would not provide proof of where they loaded their cargo.

 

No, the observers of Kurtz Detective Agency Hannover must position themselves within sight of the storage halls to document the loading process and correctly identify the trucks. Using Ms. H.’s keys and a ladder, one investigator is taken into the attic of the storage hall before dawn to document any removal of wheat. A second observer of Kurtz Detective Agency Hannover hides the ladder behind the rapeseed storage hall and, dressed in camouflage with binoculars and a telephoto lens, monitors vehicle and personnel movements in front of the hall.

Two additional Hannover detectives are positioned behind the rapeseed storage hall – without direct line of sight to the main activity – to record the departure of trucks under the direction of the observers on foot. The rapeseed storage hall is a good location because it is shielded from the rest of the complex, has a field path directly to the federal road, and, due to the season, no activity is expected.

 

Four observers from Kurtz Detective Agency Hannover – a significant financial effort for Ms. H. Now it is a matter of waiting and hoping, in the interest of the client, that the suspected perpetrators do not take too long. The removal can only be roughly limited to a period of three weeks, with Saturdays and Sundays as possible as weekdays.

 

On the fifth day of surveillance, and several thousand euros later, Ms. H. and our Hannover detectives are finally lucky: Two trucks with Dutch licence plates arrive at the site around 6:10 a.m. and begin loading from the company’s wheat warehouse. While the corporate detective in the hall’s attic has a clear view of the personnel involved and can photograph, among others, the presence of a shareholder, the observer in the field records the license plates of the parked trucks.

 

About three hours later, the signal is given to the two vehicle observers of Kurtz Detective Agency Hannover behind the rapeseed barn. The recording of the target vehicles succeeds, and our Hannover detectives follow the trucks via the federal road onto the A1 motorway. At the exit to the A2, one truck continues on the A1 and the other takes the A2 towards the Ruhr region. The further tracking of both vehicles succeeds up to their destinations, which are both in the Netherlands.

 

The proof of embezzlement is thus successfully established by the detectives of Kurtz Corporate Detective Agency Hannover. Ms. H. charges the cost of our services to her (former) shareholders, and a substantial claim for damages has been filed.

To maintain discretion and protect the personal rights of clients and target persons, all names and locations in this case report have been changed beyond recognition.

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Hannover

Kampsriede 6A

D-30659 Hanover

Tel.: +49 511 2028 0016

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-hannover.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-hannover.de/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-hannover

Image Credits:

1. "Sunset on the wheat field",  Author Thomas Wensing: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
2. "a barn in the nowhere #3", Author liebeslakritze: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
3. "More barns-Mt Vernon", Author Rachel Samanyi: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/