Duo in custody

On the hunt for criminals: Now the cab drivers are speaking out

Reinhard Feichtner is one of the victims. The perpetrators smashed the side window of his cab.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

More than 100 damaged cabs! The police were in the dark for a long time, so 80 drivers took the initiative themselves - and stopped two criminals. The courageous cab drivers tell the "Krone" how they succeeded. . .

"We were all having sleepless nights, slowly becoming paranoid. Enough is enough." Cab driver Franz Manussiger(name changed by the editors) couldn't and wouldn't stand by any longer. For several weeks, criminals had been targeting countless cabs in the Salzburg city area - the "Krone" reported. The vandals smashed the windows of the cars, targeting cash and valuables. The loot was always modest, but the material damage was all the greater. The police were in the dark - so Manussiger and his colleagues took matters into their own hands.

Together with almost eighty other taxi drivers, Manussiger set out on Monday night in search of the perpetrators. "We were out in cabs, but also in our private cars. Some people hid in bushes," he tells the Krone. Contact was maintained with cell phones and via cab radio. The search team again discovered several cabs with smashed windows. "We chased a man near Sterneckstraße but didn't catch him," says Manussiger.

Franz Manussiger put together the search team.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Duo arrested, but perpetrators remain stubbornly silent
Shortly afterwards, cab drivers were able to stop two people in Robinigstraße in Schallmoos. The police were called immediately and arrested a 28-year-old Iraqi and his accomplice (18) from Upper Austria. According to initial investigations, they are believed to be responsible for at least 46 cab break-ins. The officers seized stolen goods and several emergency hammers from the duo. These hang in trolleybuses and are used to smash windows if necessary. "All in all, there were many more cab break-ins," Manussiger is certain. Because: "There is hardly a colleague whose car has been spared." The Iraqi and his young accomplice have so far refused to make any statements.

The police arrested two of the cab burglars

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

One of the victims made his way to the car repair shop near Porsche Alpenstraße on Monday. The vandals who have now been arrested destroyed the side window of his cab the night before. "And all because of a headlamp and a flashlight," says taxi driver Reinhard Feichtner, shaking his head. That was all the duo took. They also took a tablet from the cab, but threw it into the bushes shortly afterwards. Feichtner hopes that the arrests will put an end to the series of burglaries. Many of his colleagues are not so sure. . .