Police officer demoted over MH17 souvenirs

Police officer demoted over MH17 souvenirs

A Dutch police officer who tried to sell souvenirs from the wreckage of flight MH17, including a packet of tissues, has avoided prosecution.

But his own colleagues have described his actions in the aftermath of the disaster, which killed all 298 people aboard the doomed flight, as “offensive” and “shocking” for relatives.

The officer, who has been demoted after a separate internal police investigation, had also attempted to sell clothing he wore at the crash site, as well as other “objects”, which he had described on a website as a “wall decoration”.

The asking price was 1500 euros ($A2300).

“The police leadership believes that – despite the fact that there is no offence – the offering for sale of goods related to the MH17 disaster, so relatively soon after the occurrence of the disaster and the release of the investigation report of the MH17 disaster, unethical, inappropriate, offensive and shocking for victims and (their) relatives and our entire society,” police said.

Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was brought down on July 17, 2014 as it flew over eastern Ukraine on its was from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. An international investigation has found the plane was downed by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile.

Thirty-eight Australian residents or citizens were among the dead.

Dutch authorities had accused the man, arrested on November 29 last year, of “embezzlement” but have since found that none of the items were obtained “illegally” as they were obtained from outside the search area.

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