Thieves steal 400 litres of diesel from three trucks

Unidentified thieves stole 400 litres of diesel from three trucks parked in Schalchen, ORF reported. Police confirmed the theft but said such incidents have not risen significantly.

The theft is believed to have taken place overnight from Monday to Tuesday at a gravel parking lot. The thieves drilled open the fuel caps on all three vehicles without being noticed.

The case came to light on Tuesday morning when a truck driver set off and noticed after a short distance that his tank was almost empty. He had refuelled the previous day and soon found that the fuel cap had been broken open.

Upper Austria’s State Criminal Police Office rejected the suggestion that high fuel prices were behind the theft. The office said there were about 400 similar incidents in the province last year and only a slight increase this year. Diesel thefts are almost always linked to other offences and are difficult to investigate, it said.