Chinese backpacker spends 12 days in German refugee camp after wallet is stolen and confusion ensues

An unnamed Chinese tourist visiting Germany ended up touring the country’s refugee system for almost a fortnight instead after his wallet was stolen at the airport, according to reports in the German media.

The strange journey began when the backpacker - a 31-year-old identified as Mr L - had just arrived in the southwestern city of Stuttgart. Hoping to report the theft, he searched for a police station, the broadcaster WDR reports.

However, due to an unspecified mixup, he ended up speaking to refugee authorities in the city of Heidelberg, over an hour’s drive away from Stuttgart. There he filled out an asylum application and was taken to a reception centre in Dortmund and later to a refugee home in Duelmen - meaning he was now over four hours away from Stuttgart.

To make matters worse, the Chinese citizen’s passport and visa were confiscated by authorities, who instead gave him refugee documentation.

“He set the wheels of a machine in motion that he could not initially escape from,” Christoph Schluetermann of the German Red Cross told the DPA news agency.