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25. 07. 12. - 14:00

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25. 07. 12. - 14:00

Chewdunnit

croatiantimes.com

German cops say a dentist who made headline news around the world after his finger was cut off by thieves and who then gave an artist's impression of the attacker's dirty, twisted teeth may have made the story up.

Prosecutors say that despite months of work and the use of sniffer dogs, they have failed to find any trace of the attackers that allegedly burst into the dentist's studio and demanded cash before chopping off his finger.

And they have now found that dentist Phillipp Daecher, 42, had borrowed heavily to set up the practice in Fichtenwalde, Germany, and that the six figure sum he received for a lost finger would have covered that debt.

He told police that the two hoody-wearing men - both aged around 20 - had burst into the surgery and slammed his head against a door frame before putting one of his fingers in a pair of garden shears and demanding cash.

Even after he'd handed over his wallet, the crook in the tooth photo fit hacked off his finger, he claimed.

The 42-year-old from the small town of Fichtenwalde, Brandenburg, told police that two men aged about 20 broke into his dentist's practice on March 26 and brutally attacked him.

He said they slammed his head against a door frame before trapping his left index finger in a pair of garden shears and demanding money. Despite giving them some cash, they cut off his finger and ran off, with his money and finger, he said.

But police could find neither the shears nor any trace of the two supposed robbers. Public prosecutor spokesman Tom Koepping said: "We are investigating on suspicion of an attempted fraud and faking of a criminal offence."

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