During a routine check

International gemstone thief stopped in Carinthia

The handcuffs clicked for the 52-year-old Serb (symbolic image).

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

During a routine check by the immigration police, an internationally wanted criminal was caught by Carinthian officers in Lavamünd. The Serbian was immediately handcuffed and taken to Klagenfurt prison.

Officers from the Klagenfurt immigration police were carrying out routine checks in the Lavamünd area on Saturday afternoon when they stopped a Bosnian car. "The driver and the passenger, both Serbian citizens, were able to provide proper identification," according to the Carinthia Provincial Police Directorate. In the back seat was a supposed Croatian who tried to deceive the officers with forged ID documents.

However, the officers noticed the fraud immediately. As it turned out, he was a 52-year-old Serb who was wanted by a German court on an EU arrest warrant. 

Gemstones hidden in his luggage
During a further search of the Serbian man, the officers found eight gemstones as well as burglary tools and pills containing narcotics. "According to the current state of knowledge, the gemstones probably came from a burglary in Croatia or Serbia," the police said. 

While the driver and co-driver told the officers that they had taken the wanted criminals in Serbia as car hitchhikers, the handcuffs clicked for the 52-year-old and the Klagenfurt public prosecutor's office ordered him to be taken to Klagenfurt prison immediately.