BERLIN (AP) — German authorities on Monday detained five men accused of being part of a network that illegally exported goods to Russian defense companies after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The arrests took place in Lübeck in northern Germany and in nearby Lauenburg district, federal prosecutors said. The men are all German nationals; two are also Russian citizens and another is also a Ukrainian citizen. They are suspected of membership in a criminal organization and violating Germany's foreign trade and payments act.
Searches were carried out at properties elsewhere in the country, and another five suspects have not been detained, prosecutors said in a statement.
One of the arrested men, a German-Russian identified only as Nikita S. in line with German privacy rules, owns a trading company in Lübeck, prosecutors said. They alleged that, at least since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, he and the other suspects used the firm to procure goods for Russian industry and export them to Russia.
The men are accused of using at least one bogus firm in Lübeck and bogus customers in and outside the European Union, as well as a Russian firm which Nikita S. was also involved with, to cover up the deals and get around EU sanctions.
Russian state agencies are suspected to have been behind the network, and the end customers included at least 24 defense companies in Russia, prosecutors said.
Investigations so far show that the suspects arranged around 16,000 deliveries to Russia, and that the illicit deals were worth at least 30 million euros ($35.5 million), prosecutors said. They did not elaborate on what goods were sent.
FILE - A police helicopter with a suspect arrives in Karlsruhe, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022 close to the federal prosecutor's office. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, file)
After crashing his SUV last week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his phone and told a deputy, “I was just talking to the president,” according to body camera footage released Thursday showing Woods' arrest on a DUI charge.
The phone conversation was not captured on video, but Woods could be heard saying, “Thank you so much,” as he hung up and the deputy approached. It wasn't clear if Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump, is dating Woods.
Shortly after the golfer's March 27 arrest, Trump was asked about Woods and told reporters: “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person. Amazing man. But, some difficulty.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.
The footage also shows how Woods appeared to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a sobriety test and a video from the back of the patrol car shows the handcuffed golfer hiccupping, yawning and repeatedly appearing to nod off during the 15-minute ride.
Woods told authorities he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his speeding Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on a residential road on Jupiter Island. No one was injured.
“I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden — boom,” Woods told an officer as he knelt on a lawn, prior to his arrest.
Body camera footage shows Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar then conducting a roadside sobriety test and telling Woods: “I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI."
“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded.
“Yes, sir,” Levenar said.
After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and found two white pills.
“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out the pills, referring to a painkiller that contains acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities would later confirm that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.
In the body camera footage, Woods told Levenar that he had not drunk any alcohol and that he had taken “a few” medications earlier in the day, though Woods’ words are muted in the released video as he describes some of the drugs.
At the sheriff’s office complex, after Woods was escorted into the “DUI room” where drivers are tested for being under the influence, Woods said, “I’m not drunk. I’m on a prescription medication,” according to a supplemental sheriff’s office report released Thursday.
Woods, 50, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to suspicion of driving under the influence. He posted a statement Tuesday night saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”
Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test, authorities said. Under a change to Florida law last year, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood or urine test became a misdemeanor, even for a first offense.
During the field sobriety test, deputies noticed Woods limping and that he had a compression sock over his right knee. Woods explained he had undergone seven back surgeries and over 20 surgeries on his right leg, and that his ankle seizes up while walking.
Woods, who was hiccupping during questioning, continuously moved his head during one of the sobriety tests and deputies had to tell him several times to keep his head straight, according to an arrest report.
“Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” Levenar wrote.
Woods is the most influential figure in golf and has become as recognizable as any athlete in the world. The first person of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf fans with records likely never to be broken.
His injuries have kept him from accomplishing more, including from a 2021 Los Angeles car crash that damaged his right leg so badly he said doctors considered amputation. He has not played an official event since the 2024 British Open. He was recovering from a seventh back surgery in October and was trying to return at the Masters, where he is a five-time champion.
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Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report.
In this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods sits in an unmarked police vehicle as he speaks with law enforcement personnel following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods speaks on his cellphone following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods speaks on his cellphone as he steps out of an unmarked police vehicle following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods hangs up his cellphone and tells a sheriff deputy “I was just talking to the president" following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image from video provided by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods is strapped into a police vehicle following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods performs a field sobriety test for sheriff's deputies following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods is taken into custody by sheriff's deputies following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image from video provided by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods is strapped into a police vehicle following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image taken from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods performs a field sobriety test for sheriff's deputies following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Fla., on Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Oteri)
In this image taken from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods speaks with sheriff's deputies following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image taken from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, sheriff's deputies holds two pills from a search of golfer Tiger Woods' pants following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Department via AP)
In this image taken from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods is taken into custody by sheriff's deputies following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image taken from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, golfer Tiger Woods performs a field sobriety test for sheriff's deputies following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
The Martin County Sheriff's Office welcome sign is displayed outside Friday, March 27, 2026 (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
This handout photo provided by the Martin County Sheriff's Office shows Tiger Woods, in Stuart, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Tiger Woods leaves the Martin County Sheriff's Office jail facility following his involvement in a car crash where he was arrested on a DUI charge on Friday, March 27, 2026 (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
FILE- Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Fla., March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Oteri, File)
