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Photo: Herrmann Agency Photography / IMAGO
A 74-year-old German tourist was killed in a robbery in South Africa over the weekend, according to police.
The public prosecutor's office is investigating three men on suspicion of murder.
According to previous investigations, the German arrived in the north of South Africa in his car from neighboring Botswana on Saturday morning.
On the way, he offered a hitchhiker a ride, the public prosecutor said on Monday when the three suspects were brought before the court.
The man asked the hitchhiker to help him find accommodation, it was said.
During a stopover at an alcohol shop near the Pilanesberg National Park, the hitchhiker apparently informed his friends.
When they arrived at the hitchhiker's residence, the three men allegedly attacked, tied up and mistreated the tourist, probably in order to find out the PIN on his bank card.
They also took an undisclosed amount of cash and valuables from their victim, the prosecutor said.
Body discovered in the bushes
The men then apparently drove their victim's car into the bushland and left the man lying there in the undergrowth.
The vehicle, from which the license plates had been removed, aroused the suspicion of a police patrol on Saturday evening.
The German tourist's body was discovered in nearby bushes.
The suspects were arrested over the weekend after they were found with items belonging to the dead man.
According to the police, they are men between the ages of 24 and 46.
kfr/AFP/dpa