Millions in losses

Burglars on tour: two bicycle thefts per day

Within seconds, the perpetrators make off with the valuable loot

(Bild: DPA/FRISO GENTSCH)

Last year, the Carinthian police were called out to 207 cellar burglaries - and the criminals were usually after the same thing: valuable "bicycles"!  

"Bicycles are the criminals' new gold" - this was the headline in the "Kärntner Krone" months ago. The figures from the recently published crime statistics for 2023 now confirm this: According to these, no fewer than 897 "bikes" (i.e. an average of around two bikes per day) were reported stolen last year.

"Krone" local inspection at a crime scene in Villach. Burglars stole four valuable bicycles from Cornelia R.'s cellar compartment.

(Bild: Klaus Loibnegger)

And this was primarily in the course of the 207 officially recorded cellar break-ins (if several compartments in a residential cellar are broken into, they are statistically combined into one coup; editor's note). In 2022, 142 cellars were still broken into. The criminals exclusively targeted valuable two-wheelers - from e-bikes and mountain bikes to wickedly expensive racing bikes.

At least 2.7 million euros in damage
And if we assume an average value of 3,000 euros, which is already very low (most of the stolen two-wheelers don't go for less than 5,000 euros), the minimum total damage alone amounts to almost 2.7 million euros! For comparison: in 2022, Carinthia had 800 bikes reported stolen, almost 100 fewer than in the previous year. This means that we are now back on the "best" path to pre-corona levels (2019: 1058 reported bicycle thefts).