The burglars acted internationally – and also employed the investigators in Upper Austria. Over a period of eight months, the Romanians broke into at least ten companies in Upper Austria, Germany and Denmark. They were targeting electronics, clothing, skis and cosmetics. The perpetrators are said to have paid their living with it. The stolen goods were resold in Romania, the police reported on Saturday. “We are currently at around 340,000 euros,” says an investigator, quantifying the current amount of damage. The six-member gang from Romania was always active in different occupations. “Four men were always there,” says the criminalist.
Prostitutes in a Linz apartment
The investigators became aware of the gang after a burglary in a company in Timelkam (Vöcklabruck district) in mid-October of the previous year. There, the Romanians stole six-figure cell phones, tablets and laptops. During the investigation, it turned out that they had tried it the day before. They wanted to deactivate the alarm system by cutting off the company’s power supply. However, they triggered an alarm and fled. The burglars were finally successful on the next attempt.
Three months later, on January 17, they wanted to break in again, and the alarm system intervened again. That night the men could be filmed by a surveillance camera. This gave investigators more clues. One of the gang members – a 35-year-old Romanian who lives in Linz – has been under surveillance ever since. Among other things, it turned out that the perpetrators had rented vans from various companies for their burglary tours. He also led the investigators on the trail of an accomplice (33) and to the “base” of the perpetrators. It was an apartment in Linz that housed the gang members and an illegal Romanian prostitute.
100 pairs of skis stolen after release from prison
But the gang wasn’t only active in Timelkam. It was later found out that she had also broken into a Rieder boutique and stolen clothing worth more than 100,000 euros. “The stolen goods were sold in Romania the very next day,” the state police said on Saturday.
In mid-March, the perpetrators found it in a bike shop in the Ried district apart from. Because a logistician’s truck was parked on the company premises that night, they fled without taking anything. Two nights later they tried it in the middle of Linz at a grocery store. To get to the electronic devices, they wanted to break the window. The two burglars couldn’t get inside. They were arrested and taken to Wels Prison. Both have since been convicted.
The perpetrators are part of a Romanian group with a relevant criminal record that had formed last year and was up to mischief in several countries. The 33-year-old was also found to have broken into a sports shop in Germany. The man, who had been released from prison just a week earlier, stole more than a hundred pairs of skis.
A total of five Romanians are currently in custody. There is an international arrest order against another escaped perpetrator and a search is being made for him.
Source: Nachrichten
