It went according to script

Trafik robberies turn out to be amateur theater

Within ten weeks, the tobacconist's in Rosentaler Straße in Klagenfurt was robbed twice - or rather became the stage for a staged play.(Bild: Tragner Christian)

A bombshell in the crime thriller about two tobacconist's coups in Klagenfurt: the alleged robbers and the employee were probably in cahoots. The robberies were carried out according to their "script".

Criminal case fit for a movie! Within ten weeks, one and the same tobacconist in Rosentaler Straße in Klagenfurt was robbed twice, each time on Mondays. One day before Christmas by a gunman and at the beginning of March by a knife-wielding criminal. In both cases, the same employee was threatened - and had to live through the alleged horror scenario.

"Despite intensive investigations and the publication of mugshots, we were at a dead end after the first robbery. No traces of the perpetrator could be recovered either," explains Hannes Lassnig, head of the LKA robbery investigators, in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper. In the course of the second coup, the investigation turned.

Chief investigator Hannes Lassnig (he wishes to remain unidentified) in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper(Bild: Klaus Loibnegger)

"We studied the videos from the surveillance cameras for hours, every single image sequence, very closely. And then we knew: Something was wrong. The sequence of events of the robbery suggested an insider crime," says the experienced criminalist. This was subsequently confirmed with the help of Detective DNA.

Within ten weeks, the tobacconist's in Rosentaler Straße in Klagenfurt was robbed twice - or rather became the stage for a staged play.(Bild: Tragner Christian)

DNA trace leads investigators to a prison cell in Vienna
During the second robbery, the perpetrator grabbed the alleged victim by the jacket - and genetic traces were recovered. The first breakthrough: there was a hit in the DNA database. And this led to a prison cell in Vienna. To a Tunisian (41) who was currently "serving time" in the Austrian capital for another offense.

And whom the alleged victim also knew personally: "As a customer, but also privately - as she admitted," reports Hannes Lassnig. In the course of his work, the suspect was often on assembly in Klagenfurt. "At first he denied everything. The tobacconist also defended him." According to her, his tracks could also have gotten onto her jacket during personal meetings.

The first staged robbery in December 2024. The weapon is said to have been a toy pistol.(Bild: LPD Kärnten)

Suspects buckled under interrogation
The only problem was that the meticulous LKA forensic experts were able to recover a second genetic imprint of the Tunisian - on the back of the cash register. The 41-year-old was then transferred to Klagenfurt prison in July - where he then came clean. According to the case, it was all the idea of the woman, who was in financial difficulties.

She undoubtedly has acting skills. She put on a theatrical show for the surveillance cameras, complete with tears!

Chefermittler zur „Krone“

He had hired an Algerian friend (37), who also lived in Vienna, for the first robbery and carried out the second coup himself. The "scripts" were written by the Carinthian woman. "She has undisputed acting skills. She put on a theatrical show for the surveillance cameras, complete with tears," reports the chief investigator. But after two hours of intensive questioning, her "curtain of lies" fell - and the suspect confessed.

Robberies became thefts
And so (from a legal point of view) aggravated robbery became two aggravated thefts - in the case of the tobacconist, the charges of "making a false statement to detectives" and "feigning an offense punishable by law" were added.