Police arrest two over nine construction-site burglaries

Two men suspected of committing nine construction-site burglaries in Lower Austria and Vienna have been arrested after stolen construction machinery was found hidden in a wooded area, ORF reported.

A man spotted the machinery last week in a forest in Vösendorf, in the Mödling district, and alerted police. Investigators from Lower Austria’s State Criminal Police Office worked with officers in Vösendorf and Vienna to identify two Romanian citizens, aged 26 and 35.

The men were provisionally arrested in Vösendorf as they tried to load tools stolen from construction-site containers in Vienna and other stolen goods stored in Vösendorf into their vehicle. Police also found construction machinery in the vehicle that they said came from containers broken into at four construction sites.

The suspects admitted involvement in nine offences, police said. The break-ins took place in St. Pölten, Kirchstetten, Loosdorf, Melk, Kemmelbach and Vienna-Liesing. The total damage is estimated at more than 50,000 euros.

Some of the recovered tools have already been returned to the companies affected. The men were taken to St. Pölten prison.