Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Armed police thwart hotel robbery plans

A serious armed robbery on a hotel in the Vienna Woods community of Gablitz was thwarted by police on Wednesday, according to the National Police Directorate of the northeast region.

Published: 24 October 2014 17:38 CEST

Armed police thwart hotel robbery plans

Photo: Police

Four people have been arrested, and a Kalashnikov semi-automatic rifle with ammunition and a gas-powered gun were seized. The four suspects are being held for questioning in Wiener Neustadt prison.

Investigators of the State Office of Criminal Investigation northeast had known since ten days of the planned attack, the police said on Friday.

The suspects had been monitored while conducting surveys of the potential target, which was a luxury hotel near Gablitz where one of the gang had been working.

The leader of the gang, a 47-year-old Kosovar, planned to carry out an armed robbery using the automatic weapon. A 46-year-old Romanian woman was being blackmailed by the Kosovar due to a high level of drug debt which she owed him, up to five figures.

She had allegedly told the man of the whereabouts of a safe containing a significant amount of money, which was to be the target of the attack.

In addition, the gang had already planned a getaway to Spain after the robbery.

Apparently, the Kosovar had scouted the location on several occasions, and had considered attempting the robbery on at least three occasions — but each attempt was aborted for "tactical reasons", according to the police spokesman.

Eventually, he decided to carry out the attack on Thursday.

Police moved in on Wednesday when the 47-year-old, and two of his accomplices from Kosovo, a 29-year-old man and a 34-year-old man, decided spontaneously to rob a food market in Vienna's Penzing district. The 47-year-old had armed himself with brass knuckles, a knife and pepper spray, but apparently lost his nerve, and fled.

A blue sports bag containing the Kalashnikov, ammunition and a gas pistol was found in the backyard of a construction company in a Vienna house. All suspects were arrested by the Austrian armed police team, Cobra, and were charged with suspicion of attempted robbery and criminal conspiracy.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

Url copied to clipboard!