A deceptively ordinary turn near Worringer Platz in Düsseldorf was all it took to tilt the whole scene. This Wednesday morning in October 2026, a car as banal as any drew a plainclothes patrol’s attention. A routine traffic stop, at first, the officers thought. Then a quick look under the hood and inside the cabin changed everything.
Behind the wheel sat the vehicle’s owner, 21 years old. In the passenger seat were two friends, 19 and 20, all residents of Düsseldorf. The officers quickly realized that this VW Tiguan was no ordinary vehicle, starting with its audio setup. In fact, this car with an illegal siren in Düsseldorf was carrying far more than its occupants. And what the police would pull out of the SUV was enough to surprise anyone.
In Düsseldorf, an illegal siren found after an unauthorized turn
The action unfolded around 9:48 a.m. in the Oberbilk district, between Worringer Platz and Kölner Straße. The driver executed an illegal turn, prompting a stop on a nearby street, Markenstraße. Once the SUV was immobilized, the officers immediately noticed conspicuous technical modifications. Under the hood, they found speakers wired to a Sondersignalanlage. It’s a signaling system of the Martinshorn type, normally reserved for emergency vehicles.
For the police, this kind of find during a stop isn’t unusual, even on seemingly ordinary cars. Such installations are nevertheless prohibited on a civilian vehicle, because they can give the impression of a real priority vehicle. “In the worst case, it can be regarded as impersonation of an emergency function. It can also lead to the withdrawal of the vehicle’s operating authorization,” explained a Düsseldorf police spokesperson to WDR.
Inside the Tiguan’s cabin, an alarm weapon and an entire arsenal
Confronted with this discovery under the hood, the officers decided to search the vehicle more thoroughly. In the center console, they came across a Schreckschusswaffe, an alarm weapon that was ready for use. This item triggered a more extensive search, ordered by a judge, with a meticulous dismantling of the SUV’s contents. The police then uncovered a small arsenal well beyond a mere recreational setup. Here is what they seized in the Tiguan:
- a one-handed opening knife and a box cutter;
- ammunition for the alarm weapon and signaling ammunition;
- a pyrotechnic smoke grenade;
- an aluminum baseball bat;
- several balaclavas and reinforced gloves.
The SUV was found to belong to the driver, police note. None of the three occupants could present the
