Witness took photos

3.30 p.m. car burglary, 4.25 p.m. arrest

The license plate number of the perpetrator's car can be seen in the photo taken by a witness - this clue helped in the manhunt.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

Police in Burgenland caught two suspected car thieves in record time. Caught by the victim's father and thanks to the cell phone photos of a young witness, alerted officers from Eisenstadt set off in pursuit of the suspects. Within an hour, the suspects were stopped at the Kittsee border crossing. Arrested!

The perpetrator duo set their sights on a BMW X7. When the owner (31) parked in front of the branch of a well-known shopping chain in Johann-Pack-Straße in Eisenstadt-Süd and went into the store, the criminals probably used a jammer to break the door lock on her car. Shortly afterwards, the victim's father watched in horror as the unknown perpetrators tried to steal his daughter's car.

Witness sneaked to the scene of the crime
"When I got to our agreed meeting point, I couldn't believe my eyes. A strange man was sitting in our BMW X7 and fiddling around," says Johann H. from Rust, describing the incident. So as not to startle the criminal, he parked his car nearby and crept carefully to the scene of the crime.

When the criminals were caught, they drove off in their Peugeot - Johann H. (pictured) ran after them.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Privat)

The thieves fled
When the Burgenland man was discovered, the suspected thief jumped out of the car and ran to his accomplice, who was waiting in a Peugeot car not far from a discount petrol station. Johann H. tried to run after the fugitive - but in vain. 

Despite my success as a multiple state champion in athletics, at 75 I could no longer keep up, I was too slow.

Senior Johann H.

Caught at Kittsee
A young woman, who was accompanied by her mother, reacted quickly. The eyewitness immediately became suspicious, pulled out her cell phone and took photos of the suspects and their car with Slovakian license plates. The Georgian car thieves - 43 and 35 years old - sped off. Their escape came to an abrupt end at the Kittsee border crossing!

"The Ruster Straße police station in Eisenstadt and the Potzneusiedl highway police did an excellent job," says Johann H. in praise of the exemplary speeding operation. His family would also like to thank the attentive woman who led the pursuers on the trail of the criminals with the help of her cell phone snapshots. The DNA data of the suspects is now being analyzed and compared with other cases by the crime scene team.