Vienna in the focus: Criminal trio with cocaine and counterfeit money arrested!

Vienna in the focus: Criminal trio with cocaine and counterfeit money arrested!

On Thursday, March 31, 2025, three men who are suspected of being responsible for a number of burglaries were arrested in Vienna. Like vienna.at , these are Romanian citizens aged 40, 46 and 50 years. The arrest took place in the act during an attempted break -in into an apartment in the first district of the city. During the following house searches, the investigators not only found alleged stolen goods, but also about 170 grams of cocaine and counterfeit money.

The criminalists of the Federal and State Criminal Police Office Vienna have informed a whole series of burglaries that were specifically directed against older and needy people. In January 2021 there was an increase in burglaries in Vienna, in which the victims were between 70 and 100 years old. The perpetrators gained access to these apartments between one and four o'clock in the morning by locking the doors, which means a destructive opening of locks. The perpetrator's mode was to pretend to be nursing staff in order to gain the trust of the residents, with several burglaries being committed per night. bundeskriminalamt documented that over fifty burglaries took place.

Investigations and arrests

The crime statistics have shown that this group of perpetrators works very routinely and above all striving for cash, jewelry and ATM cards. A geographical analysis showed that most of the burglaries in Vienna districts 11, 14, 16 and 23 took place. In order to counteract this growing threat, special observation teams were formed in February 2021. In just four days, a crime vehicle and two addresses of suspects were determined. On February 19, 2021, two suspects were arrested after an attempted burglary. The police led these investigations to a criminal association of Serbian citizens.

The Federal Criminal Police Office states that the police crime statistics (PKS) plays an important role in the strategic planning of fighting crime. It has recorded and documents the development of criminal events in Austria since 2001 and is used to effectively combat crime. The PKS is an advertisement statistics, which, however, does not cover the entire dark field of crime. Influencing factors on the PKS figures include the display behavior of the population and the intensity of the police controls.

The recent events in Vienna show that the security authorities continue to actively act against burglar gangs, even if the dark figures of such crimes are difficult to record. Nevertheless, the ongoing analysis and observation of crime developments by the PKS and the activities of the police will strengthen the feeling of security among citizens in the long term.