They broke into commercial buildings, targeting electronics, clothing, bicycles and skis. Ten burglaries could be clarified, the crime scenes were in Upper Austria, Germany and also in Denmark. The alleged damage is around 340,000 euros.
It all started with a power failure. An above-ground line was cut in Timelkam in October 2021. As it turned out, this was the work of the burglars who wanted to paralyze the alarm system of an electronics company in the Hausruckviertel. However, the alarm went off and the perpetrators fled.
But two nights later they broke in again and stole cell phones, laptops and tablets worth more than a hundred thousand euros. Intense investigations began and the company upgraded their video surveillance.
The burglars were so bold that they dared to break into the Timelkam company building again this January. However, this time they were filmed by the surveillance system and the investigators were able to track down the perpetrators one by one. They tracked down a 35-year-old Romanian who had an apartment in Linz. This served as a “base” for the traveling burglars. An illegal prostitute also lived there.
In March, the perpetrators planned to break into a bicycle shop in the Ried district. Again they had rented a van for this purpose. But when a truck accidentally parked next to the shop, the burglars got cold feet and retreated. Only two nights later they wanted to strike in Linz. Their goal was a discounter branch in the city center. But by then the police had long been on their heels. Even before the Romanians managed to break the windows, they were arrested.
It turned out that some of the perpetrators had previous convictions in other countries. A burglary in a boutique in Ried was also attributed to this gang. There they had stolen clothes worth a six-figure euro amount. The loot was brought to Romania in a small truck just one day later. Further investigations in Germany showed that more than 100 pairs of skis had been stolen when a sports shop was broken into: presumably by a 33-year-old who had just been released from prison in Romania. The loot was resold through traders in Romania.
Two perpetrators were arrested in this connection. Another Romanian (34) was arrested in Denmark, as was an accomplice in Romania. According to the police, another is still on the run. “We already observed them during the attempted break-in in Linz, it was no coincidence that we caught them in the act,” says detective Hans-Jürgen Hofinger from the Vöcklabruck district police command.
Theft “on order”
The perpetrators are likely to have stolen the goods “to order” because they specialized in large quantities, and “that has to be well organized logistically,” says Hofinger. In Romania there is a large black market for stolen goods. The criminalist remembers a case involving Romanian bicycle thieves three years ago. At that time, the investigators were able to prove that backers had placed orders for certain bicycle brands. (staro)
Source: Nachrichten
