Image: LPD Styria
A 35-year-old suspect from the Weiz district is said to have carried out a total of seven armed robberies with a deceptively similar toy gun. The man was arrested after intensive investigations by the Burgenland and Styria state criminal investigation offices and has confessed, the Styrian state police said on Wednesday.
Seven Raids
The suspect is assigned seven robberies between March 18 (Oberwart) and August 10 (Kemeten and Graz-Andritz): five of them occurred in Styria, two more were committed in Burgenland. Nobody was injured.
The police searched with pictures and also the video of a surveillance camera from the unsuccessful tobacco shop robbery in the Mariatrost district of Graz on August 9th. At that time, the robbery failed just before closing time due to the owner and employees, who refused to give him any money. The robber initially fled undetected and without booty. The video then published by the police, which quickly went viral, resulted in an anonymous tip that ultimately led to the 35-year-old.
Loot already squandered
The man was arrested on Monday with the support of officers from the Cobra-Süd/DSE task force. According to the police, he fully confessed during the interrogation. He gave financial difficulties as the motive, but he had already used up all the loot in the meantime.
The Styrian is initially in detention in the Graz prison, but should subsequently be transferred to Eisenstadt, since the series of robberies started in Burgenland in March 2023, said police spokesman Markus Lamb.
Source: Nachrichten
