Crime scene gas station shop

Gang steals safes with hammers and sack toboggans

Hammers are part of every burglar's basic equipment

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/butus - stock.adobe.com)

Banks are a shoe number too big for them: a Kosovar gang has specialized in the safes in petrol station stores and has been up to mischief in four federal states, including Upper Austria, since the beginning of October. The gangsters literally go through the walls.

The gang breaks into petrol station stores partly through the wall and searches specifically for the safes. The safes are transported away on sack sledges, cracked open with special tools and the money stolen. According to investigations by the Salzburg Criminal Police Department, the criminals also commit burglaries in companies and fire stations as a further "line of business". The perpetrators are targeting special tools such as battery-powered spreaders.

Difficult manhunt
The hunt for the Kosovars is proving difficult: on the night of November 27, two suspects fled from their car during a check in Lamprechtshausen (Styria). Police officers found a spreader, a sack toboggan, a sledgehammer and other burglary tools in the car. On December 16, after a break-in in Mondsee, a vehicle belonging to the gang was spotted in Thalgau (Styria). Here too, three perpetrators managed to escape on foot. A spreader and tools were again seized in the car.

One has been caught so far
On December 29, law enforcement officers finally caught one of the Kosovars (25) during a petrol station burglary in Styria. This time, too, a spreader was seized. The loot so far amounts to around 70,000 euros.