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Austrian brewery workers charged with stealing beer worth €1.7 million

More than 20 people stand accused of stealing some €1.7 million worth of beer over several years at a Graz brewery.

Published: 2 May 2022 17:23 CEST

Austrian brewery workers charged with stealing beer worth €1.7 million

Austrians are some of Europe's biggest beer drinkers. (Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels)

Austria on Monday started a highly publicised trial of 24 people being accused of stealing millions of euros worth of beers while working at a brewery in Graz, broadcaster ORF reported.

The defendants are also accused of crimes including embezzlement and tax evasion.

The prosecutors claim that the crimes started as early as January 2009, and the criminal organisation was only uncovered after an anonymous tip in 2017. At the time, the anonymous complaint stated that three employees had been stealing beer and non-alcoholic beverages for years.

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The brewery Puntigam investigated, planting hidden cameras that uncovered a large scale operation involving initially more than 50 suspects.

According to the accusation, the people involved would say a certain amount of beer was a “faulty product”, allowing them to take them out and sell them. As the scheme and amounts grew more extensive, more workers – and higher on the hierarchy – got involved.

Many of the defendants are said to have profited from an additional monthly income of more than €400 over the years of the crimes.

One of the supervisors is said to have embezzled €50,000 while looking the other way on the selling scheme. All of the accused are Austrian nationals aged between 39 to 64 years old, ORF said.

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The defence lawyers say that some will claim partially guilty. Still, many will say they were innocent, stating that the practice of bringing home broken products was a “common” one and that the quantities alleged by the prosecutors were “not true”.

A verdict is expected at the end of May, and the four main defendants could face a prison sentence of up to ten years.

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When are police officers in Austria allowed to use their weapons?

Austrian police officers, like their counterparts in many countries, are equipped with firearms as part of their law enforcement duties. However, the use of these weapons is strictly regulated by law, with clear guidelines and limitations in place to ensure public safety and accountability.

Recent incidents have brought renewed attention to these regulations, sparking debate and discussion about when and how police officers are authorised to use force, including the use of firearms. Despite the recent events – with two deaths after suspects were shot by the police within two weeks, the number of such incidents in Austria is not high.

READ ALSO: What rules does Austria have on gun ownership?

In 2022, weapons were used 654 times by officers in 213 different incidents. In many incidents different police used their firearms and often more than once.

In those incidents some 137 people were left slightly injured, four were seriously injured, and no one was killed, according to a Der Standard report.

Provisional figures for 2023 show 328 uses of weapons in 202 different incidents. Sixty-five people were slightly injured, three were seriously injured, and two people were shot dead.

Looking back over a longer period of time, in the past 16 years, 18 people have died as a result of police use of firearms.

What are the rules?

The use of service weapons in Austria is regulated by the Weapons Use Act (Waffengebrauchsgesetz) of 1969, which states that law enforcement agencies such as police officers and municipal police officers may use weapons in cases of “just self-defence”, the report said.

For example, to overcome resistance to an official act, to make an arrest or to prevent the escape of an arrested person. Even then, the use of weapons is only permitted by law “if harmless or less dangerous measures”, including the threat of using weapons, pursuing a fleeing person, the use of physical force or milder means such as handcuffs, “appear unsuitable or have proven to be ineffective.”

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

Only the least dangerous weapon may be used if various weapons are available – service weapons also include tear gas or batons. The purpose of using weapons against people may only be to “render the target incapable of attacking, resisting or fleeing”.

According to the Weapons Use Act, a service weapon is permitted in defence of a person to suppress a riot or insurrection, as well as in some instances of arrest or to prevent an escape. And to arrest or prevent the escape of “an insane person who is generally dangerous to the safety of the person or property”.

In any case, whenever the police fire their weapons, the incidents are the subject of internal investigations by the Investigation and Complaints Office for Allegations of Abuse at the Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAK-EBM). The authority will decide whether the case was an instance of self-defence and whether the use of a pistol was justified.

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