As soon as criminal investigators from Bolesławiec received information that a backhoe loader had been stolen several hours earlier, they set out to establish the circumstances and inspect the scene. – The actions quickly produced a positive result, as police officers arrested two men in a nearby small forest, approximately half a kilometre from the scene, and secured the machine originating from the crime – reports Senior Sergeant Aleksandra Pieprzycka from the Wrocław Provincial Police Headquarters.
As officers established, under cover of night – from 6 to 7 May this year – the suspects jointly stole a backhoe loader worth PLN 150,000. They then both travelled to the forest: one in the excavator and the other in a passenger car. The spokesperson said: – To erase any possible traces in the machine’s cab, they used a fire extinguisher. It turned out that the excavator ran out of fuel while being driven, so they hid among the trees and waited for help.
She added: – The men were completely surprised by the police officers’ visit. They were sitting in a borrowed car, which they had also used to travel to the crime scene. Despite being covered in a white powdered substance from the fire extinguisher, they denied any involvement in the theft of property worth PLN 150,000.
The arrested men are a 29-year-old resident of Legnica County and a 32-year-old resident of Lubin County. Officers from the Police Station in Kruszyn charged both suspects with jointly committing the burglary and theft of the backhoe loader. The policewoman:
Additionally, the 29-year-old will be held responsible for driving despite a decision revoking his driving licence, as he was the one driving the passenger car.
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old was charged in connection with his previous criminal activity in Bolesławiec County, as the evidence collected in the proceedings shows that over the past two months he was repeatedly present in the Gromadka and Warta Bolesławiecka municipalities. The officers:
As a result, he was charged with the burglary and theft of an excavator, operating the machine despite a court ban and a decision revoking his driving licence, as well as stealing cameras and cabling from a photovoltaic farm, breaking into and stealing batteries from railway infrastructure, and – on various days – stealing telecommunications cable and a supporting cable, causing total losses of more than PLN 90,000.
Both suspects face up to 10 years in prison.
