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A 150-Euro Camera Catches the Leader of the Acid Gang

The camera filmed the burglars in the Vienna apartment. Notable: the tattoo on the gang leader’s arm (center).(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Stefan Steinkogler, zVg)

For nearly four years now, the police have been battling a gang that pours toxic and corrosive acid into door locks. Now they’ve landed a major blow: Thanks to an inexpensive camera mounted in the entryway, a couple from Landstraße caught the ringleader of the criminal group. He was an outstanding athlete—but his greed for precious metals would never let him go. 

At first, she blamed herself, Verena (name changed) explained during a visit by the “Krone” to her apartment in the Weißgerberviertel neighborhood of Landstraße. Her cell phone had made a strange noise in the early hours of August 19, at exactly 2:42 a.m. “That’s odd,” thought the Viennese woman, who was on vacation in Lower Austria with her husband at the time. When she opened her phone, the realization hit her like a bolt of lightning: “Someone’s breaking into our place right now!” 

It was in that gray building in Landstraße (center of the photo) that the spree was to come to an abrupt end.(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

Burglars stroll calmly in front of the camera
The couple had ordered a camera online for 150 euros at the time to install it in the entryway. Now that camera was delivering real-time footage that Verena and her husband will never forget. As seen in the footage, two men are calmly preparing for a break-in. They put on their gloves, ransack the apartment’s bedroom, and turn everything upside down. They’re looking for money, gold coins, and jewelry—and show no regard for the property. 

We had to watch as the burglars went into the bedroom. There, they really ransacked everything and turned the place upside down.

Verena (Name geändert) im Gespräch mit der „Krone“

Nearly 160 apartments in Vienna affected
They had previously scouted out the apartment in the neighborhood—which has been the most frequent target of burglars since November 2022—and marked it with a wafer-thin strip of tape. They had taped over the peephole for security—as well as those of the neighbors. Then the duo dripped toxic and corrosive nitric acid into the door locks and waited until they had dissolved. This method has been used in 160 Viennese apartments since 2022. The damage runs into the millions. 

This small camera led to the police’s spectacular success story.(Bild: Stefan Steinkogler)

Alarm button pressed, then the duo fled
In her panic and still half asleep, Verena pressed a button on her cell phone, causing the camera in the Vienna apartment to start blaring loudly. The alarm sound startled—as the “Krone” could see in the video recording—the pair, who rushed from the bedroom into the entryway and frantically grabbed the camera. After that, only blurry images of their escape can be seen. “If I hadn’t pressed that button, they probably wouldn’t have gotten away before the police arrived,” Verena says, shaking her head. When the “Krone” visited her, she didn’t yet know that she would still play a decisive role in their arrest. 

The two men fled just one minute before the police, who had been alerted, arrived at our apartment.

Das Wiener Paar ärgerte sich über die (vorerst) gelungene Flucht

Before His Life of Crime, the Burglar Was an Award-Winning Wrestler
The fact is that this very 150-euro camera is the final piece of the puzzle that investigators likely had been missing. One of the burglars, wearing a T-shirt, reveals a tattoo on his upper arm to the camera. A tattoo known to criminal investigators across half of Europe. It belongs to the Georgian Besiki S. The 36-year-old—who once won medals as a wrestler at major Asian championships—has been wanted by Swedish authorities since 2020. Somehow, however, he has repeatedly managed to enter and leave European countries. It remains unclear how he did this. Fake passports and a changed last name likely played a role. 

Prior to this, the apartment had been broken into using acid and ransacked.(Bild: Stefan Steinkogler)

EU arrest warrant, then Slovak investigators struck
The former athlete seems to have had a soft spot for Austria, as he is said to be largely responsible for the series of crimes that have been ongoing in Vienna since 2022. However, his tattoo led to an abrupt end for the 36-year-old in prison. The Austrian authorities issued an EU arrest warrant. Slovakian investigators struck last week when Besiki S. was passing through Bratislava on his way home to Georgia. Austrian investigators are currently on pins and needles, waiting for the ex-wrestler to be extradited to Vienna. After all, for nearly four years now, there have been plenty of burning questions that only he can answer. He has reportedly been definitively linked to at least six burglaries. 

A Viennese burglar was also caught in Germany
Incidentally, the next success story came just one day later. A Georgian acid burglar was also arrested in Berlin. V. N. (48) is said to have been caught in the act of a burglary, having previously left his DNA at the scenes of at least two acid-related break-ins in Vienna’s Penzing district. Verena and her husband will certainly be pleased by the arrest. The couple, who had to flee their apartment in Vienna after the break-in, will likely be proud that the fairly inexpensive camera ultimately paid off—and actually helped convict a burglary ringleader.