Quartet arrested

Hohenems police put a stop to gang of thieves

The handcuffs clicked for four shoplifters on Thursday.

(Bild: Rojsek-Wiedergut Uta)

Late on Thursday afternoon, four shoplifters stole a number of items from a Spar store in Hohenems in a concerted operation. They didn't get far, however, and a police manhunt was successful. 

The shoplifting was reported to the Hohenems police at around 4.40 pm. The store manager stated that several people had fled in a car towards the center of Ems. In the course of an immediate manhunt, the getaway vehicle was located and stopped in the town center within a few minutes. Inside the car were four people who had obviously proceeded in a very organized and strategic manner during the theft. Initial investigations revealed that three of the suspects had deliberately gone on the run in the store, while the fourth was apparently standing at the entrance area, apparently uninvolved, in order to trigger the light barrier during the escape. Using the video recordings secured by the police, it was not only possible to reconstruct the crime, but also to clearly identify the suspects. All occupants of the getaway vehicle were consequently arrested and taken to the police station.

It was not the only robbery
As if that were not enough, further investigations and interrogations revealed that three of the four arrested had already committed several thefts in Dornbirn and Hohenems in the past. During a house search in Dornbirn, some of the stolen goods were finally recovered.

Some of the proven thefts took place up to a year ago. The main suspect was found to have committed five robberies during this period, during which he stole goods worth several thousand euros. The other suspects also had a number of thefts under their belts, and in these cases, too, the losses amounted to several thousand euros. And who knows, there may be more crimes to come - according to the police, the investigation is still ongoing.