Prey weighing tons

Gang preys on excavators, tractors and co.

Excavators were also targeted by the gang (symbolic image).

(Bild: Diverse Fotografen honorarpflichtig)

The police are currently searching feverishly for unknown persons who are hunting down expensive construction machinery. Several vehicles weighing several tons have recently disappeared from construction sites within two nights!

Apparently this gang is not satisfied with small things. Quite the opposite: within two nights, the strangers have stolen several tons of construction machinery from two building sites in Grafenegg in the district of Krems.

Drinks, food, excavators
The criminals first struck at a snack bar. Because renovation work was being carried out there, an excavator was parked there overnight. The criminals not only broke into the small store and took everything they could get their hands on, from food and drink to cash, they also took the tracked excavator with them. They probably arrived with a low-loader themselves.

A night later, they probably also used it to raid a company a few hundred meters away. There they first cut open the wire mesh fence to gain access to the premises. At the site itself, they loaded up everything they could find. The list of stolen items includes an excavator, a tractor, a dumper, a vibrating plate and a cutter.

Six-figure sum of damage
In total, the value of the stolen goods amounts to a six-figure euro sum. The police are investigating at full speed. This is not the first such series in this region. Around three years ago, a gang was active in the districts of Krems and Horn, where excavators, dumpers and vibratory plates were also stolen.