Burglary in the museum: valuable NVA items stolen!

Several thefts have occurred in Altenburg in the last few days, which attracted the attention of the police. On December 12, 2024, the owner of a private museum discovered that unknown persons had violently entered his exhibition and stolen valuable objects. These included, among other things, numerous medals and decorations from the NVA era, a non-functional NVA training weapon as well as two NVA caps and an honorary dagger. The perpetrators left a trail of destruction in the museum and the police have already started an investigation, with information from witnesses being requested on 03447/4710 news.de reported.

Previously, on December 9th, a 44-year-old man was caught by the police stealing from a fashion store on Fabrikstrasse. The suspect was caught by staff at 10:30 a.m. after the security alarm went off. During a subsequent search, not only was stolen goods from another store found, but also a long kitchen knife. This led to his arrest and the man spent the night in a detention cell. On December 10th, the Gera public prosecutor's office wanted to decide whether he would be brought before the district court, based on information from presseportal.de.

Growing concerns due to theft statistics

The increasing number of thefts in the region raises questions. In 2022, Germany registered around 1.8 million thefts, which represents an alarming increase of 20 percent compared to the previous year. According to current reports, around 30 percent of cases are solved, although the clearance rate for money or cash theft is dramatically low at just 7.9 percent. This shows the ongoing challenge for the police and society in the fight against crime.