In her own home, a 55-year-old woman from Stattegg (district of Graz-Surroundings) was tied up and robbed. Four masked robbers held their victim for about an hour and a half before fleeing the house with the safe. The “home invasion” already took place on Tuesday night, but was only announced by the Styrian police on Thursday “for reasons of investigative tactics”.
The 55-year-old was alone in her family home on Tuesday evening, which is located on a side street in the Eichberg district of Stattegg. Shortly before 20:00, four masked men suddenly broke into the house. They overpowered the woman and tied her to a chair with cable ties and duct tape. “They kept asking them to hand over the code for the safe,” said LPD spokesman Markus Lamb. But in shock, the 55-year-old couldn’t remember the number combination.
Unpacked angle grinder
Eventually, even the perpetrators realized that this way they would go no further and moved on to plan B. They used the angle grinder they had brought with them to process the 300-pound safe. They failed to open it on the spot, but after a long time they managed to snatch the safe with the jewels and money in it from its anchor. The robbers loaded him into the getaway car, a white pickup truck. The intruders were not satisfied with this, they searched the whole house for valuables. They only left the crime scene after about an hour and a half and drove off in the van through the center of Stattegg in the direction of Graz.
After martyrdom, the victim was able to free himself from his slavery and take refuge with his neighbours. They immediately alerted the police. The 55-year-old was apparently unharmed, but he suffered a severe shock.
Albanian accent
What we know so far about the perpetrators: They were dressed in black or training pants and spoke German with an Albanian accent. Two of the men were approximately 1.85 meters tall, one had a more powerful build and the other a lean build.
Now the robbery group of the State Criminal Police Office is investigating. The LKA newspaper service accepts information about authors: 059133 60 – 3333.
