Excavator stolen – half a million euros captured from construction sites

The series of thefts began in July 2022 in Donnerskirchen, when a two-tonne compact loader disappeared overnight. The perpetrators had left behind DNA traces. “From mid-August, similar thefts took place in Lower Austria and Burgenland,” reports Gerhard Braunschmidt, head of the state’s criminal investigation department.

Suspects in custody
These could be assigned to seven suspects. In December, three of them, aged 25, 36 and 40, were arrested at the Nickelsdorf border crossing and taken into custody. In the vehicle, officials secured a dismantled mini-excavator and tools that came from a construction site in Loosdorf, Lower Austria. There is a search for four Serbs, whose names are known.

Different approaches
To move the construction equipment, the men had used three methods. If the excavator was already on a trailer, the group simply hitched it to their transporter, said Anton Fahrner, head of the national theft group.

Some excavators were loaded onto tarpaulin trailers they had brought with them to the crime scene. And third: “In order to store the excavator in a van, the Serbs removed the driver’s cab.”

Exchange rental cars
According to Fahrner, the investigation was complicated by the constantly changing rental vehicles. “The intensive contact with liaison officers in Serbia and Hungary helped.”

The alleged main perpetrator, the 36-year-old, was already in prison for construction site theft in Austria in 2019, after which he left for Germany, where he was also arrested and held until January 2022. The damage amounts to about 500,000 euros. Three excavators could be confiscated because a GPS system was installed. A fourth was seized upon arrest.