The Vienna police have dismantled a highly professional gang after two years of intensive investigation. Between 2023 and 2024, the gang carried out lightning-fast burglaries in electronics and luxury fashion stores, as well as a jewelry store, stealing the most expensive items within just a few minutes. To gain entry to the stores, they mostly used a car as a battering ram. The total damage amounted to 1.8 million euros, as reported at a press conference on Friday.
The perpetrators followed the same pattern in each high-profile crime: They stole a car near the crime scene, used it to break into the stores in the early morning hours, and then looted the shops. “They took the risk of alarm systems and video recordings,” said Günter Steinwendtner, Deputy Head of the Vienna Criminal Police Department (Ast Mitte). After the crime, they initially fled with the stolen car, then switched vehicles. They then sold the stolen goods abroad.
Stolen goods were discovered on a Serbian platform
At first, despite a huge personnel effort, the police found no leads to advance the investigation. It wasn’t until they found one of the stolen items on a Serbian platform, a type of “classified ad” site, that they had a lead. They contacted the Serbian authorities, who then supported the investigation. Furthermore, during weeks of reviewing video footage, the investigators found a recording showing two men scouting a store shortly before the robbery.
Through close cooperation with the Serbian police, who were already familiar with the suspects, the police were able to locate and observe the men. “They became careless,” said investigators Andreas Tiroch (LKA Vienna Ast Mitte) and Klaus Autischer (Federal Criminal Police Office). Just before another crime was about to be committed, the police struck: On June 28, three suspects were arrested by the special Cobra unit in Vienna, and another accomplice was caught while attempting to leave for Slovenia.
During house searches in Serbia, numerous stolen goods in excellent condition were found and could be returned to the victims in Vienna. Two suspects are still at large and are wanted under a European arrest warrant. The gang is now being charged with nine burglaries in Vienna and one in Hamburg.
Austrian authorities emphasized the successful collaboration between different agencies. “It was a prime example of how international police work should operate,” said Petra Huber-Lintner, Head of the General Crime Office at the Federal Criminal Police Office.
In early December, the trial against the gang took place at the Vienna Regional Criminal Court. The main offender received a six-and-a-half-year unconditional prison sentence, and two other accused were sentenced to four and four-and-a-half years in prison, respectively. One defendant, who was not involved in all the crimes, received a 20-month partially suspended sentence. According to a spokesman for the court, all verdicts are final.
