After the coup in the Stubai Valley

Bank robbery series: Now it’s time for the first trial

(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

Bank robberies have become "fashionable" again in Tyrol. No fewer than ten cases have been on the list of crimes since November 2023. On Thursday, a Slovakian will stand trial after a coup in the Stubai Valley.

So far, a local man (24) and his suspected Russian accomplice (32) have been arrested after the robbery of the BTV on Mitterweg in Innsbruck in July.

Two further bank robberies in the summer in Innsbruck's Reichenau and in Mieders were quickly solved: investigators tracked down a 68-year-old Innsbruck resident and a Slovakian (43). At the end of September, investigators arrested a 42-year-old man from Russia who had robbed the Sparkasse bank on Mitterweg in Innsbruck without loot.

15 years in prison
The first trial against the alleged robber from Mieders will now take place on Thursday. He stormed into the Raika at around 11 a.m. on August 27 and pulled out a gun. As it turned out later, it was an unloaded CO2 pistol. He fled across the fields with the five-figure sum of money he had stolen.

Based on the description of the perpetrator, he was arrested the very next day. He was charged with "aggravated robbery" and faces 15 years in prison. It remains to be seen whether his threat "No fear, only money" will have a mitigating effect ...