Caught in Salzburg

Gang of burglars caused 560,000 euros in damage

The handcuffs then clicked for the wanted duo in Zell am See.

(Bild: EXPA/JFK)

60,000 euros in damage is attributed to a gang that is said to have committed mainly residential and commercial burglaries since May last year. At least 117 crimes have been committed in Lower Austria, Salzburg and Styria, reported the regional police headquarters in St. Pölten on Tuesday. Four suspects are in custody.

In this country, 54 completed and 27 attempted house burglaries, ten house burglaries and four company burglaries (with cracked safes) as well as seven such attempts are to be attributed to the group, which has also been active in Germany. Four Albanian citizens aged between 28 and 37 are suspected in this regard and have partially confessed, according to the investigators. Five compatriots are still to be investigated. The family clan operated from Naples.

Victims were usually present
According to the police, the victims were present and asleep during the majority of the residential burglaries. However, this fact did not deter the suspects. The gang was investigated by the Provincial Criminal Police Offices of Lower Austria and Salzburg.

A car with Italian license plates, which had been left in a vineyard in Spitz an der Donau (Krems district) in mid-August 2023, led to the neighboring country. There, a vehicle stolen in Furth bei Göttweig was seized near the car's registration address. The matter was brought before the public prosecutor's office in Leoben.

DNA traces analyzed
When DNA traces were analyzed, a 37-year-old man was identified as the suspected main perpetrator and a 35-year-old man. The handcuffs for the duo and two other Albanians clicked on the night of January 27 in Zell am See. The quartet was transferred to Leoben prison.