As of: March 6, 2024, 5:37 a.m
By: Charlotte Borst
Comments
Press
Split
The forest cemetery in Unterschleißheim: After the police and the city asked those affected to come forward, reports were received daily, with 19 cases in Unterschleißheim alone.
© Otto Bürger
Grave decorations have been stolen from cemeteries in Oberschleißheim.
The acts were apparently part of a series.
The police have now caught two suspects.
Oberschleißheim/Unterschleißheim – The extent of thefts in cemeteries in Hochmutting, Unterschleißheim and Neufahrn has taken on larger dimensions.
Since February 18th, more affected people have reported to PI 48 in Oberschleißheim every day: 33 thefts were reported, 14 in Hochmutting, 19 in Unterschleißheim.
On the night of February 18th, the perpetrators tore valuable bowls and grave decorations from gravestones and damaged plates.
In Unter- and Oberschleissheim, flower bowls and holy water containers made of brass, bronze or copper are particularly missing.
Police chief Stefan Schraut reports: “The relatives are stunned at how brutally the graves of their loved ones were attacked.
The lack of piety hits people hard.”
The thefts have a supra-regional connection.
An organized gang between the north of Munich and Ingolstadt has preyed on cemeteries at least 90 times.
Since the first weeks of February, the Ingolstadt police have been recording non-ferrous metal thefts in cemeteries in the districts of Eichstätt, Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, Pfaffenhofen ad Ilm and in the independent city of Ingolstadt.
“The perpetrators drove through the country and stole tons of metal,” says Schraut.
Bowls, lanterns, crosses, even letters: the damage amounts to around a ton of non-ferrous metal - bronze, copper or brass, confirms Michaela Grob from the Ingolstadt police press office.
It is difficult to quantify the amount of damage.
The loss of the expensive bowls, worth between 300 and 500 euros, is due to the fact that the grave decorations were brutally torn out, says Manuel Lenk, deputy head of the Oberschleissheim Police Department: “As a result, the grave slabs and stones were also affected.”
The frequency and extent of the raids prompted the Ingolstadt police to set up an investigative group called Capula, which has already had its first successes.
Two Romanian men aged 19 and 21 who were urgently suspected of the crime were arrested and are in custody, the Ingolstadt police reported on February 28th.
The Oberschleißheim stonemasonry company Sturm has assessed numerous damages at the Hochmutting cemetery and the Unterschleißheim forest cemetery.
Matthias and Christian Sturm are horrified: “It is very painful for the relatives that their families' final resting places were looted.
Some of us burst into tears, which is understandable, the cemetery is associated with a lot of emotions,” says Christian Sturm, commercial manager.
It was also bad for him and his brother, stonemason Matthias Sturm, how their hands' work was destroyed.
“In some cases, stone slabs were badly damaged or thrown onto other slabs and surrounds were broken.”
Repairing the damage caused by vandalism: Matthias (l.) and Christian Sturm, here on a company © .
Photo: Private
20 customers have now contacted us.
“The damage is sometimes massive.” The perpetrators acted in an organized manner, “but not professionally,” says Sturm: “They didn’t have any useful tools with them, nor did they work professionally.” Very old people are also affected: “Some are so shaken “That they want to give up and give up their gravesites completely,” says Christian Sturm.
My news
Driver in BMW SUV rams through blocked intersection - 20,000 euros in damage and accident escape reading
Strong beer tapping without a knight - speech by Christian Springer in Taufkirchen with mixed success
Cannabis in Aschheim: shop owner deeply relaxed, despite resistance from the community
“Collaboration is excellent to brilliant”: Director Birgit Korda switches to school supervision
Things are going downhill: Unterhaching in financial decline reading
Cannabis sales in Aschheim: The community is planning further steps against weed shop reading
He assures those affected: “Get in touch, we will assess the damage free of charge and see that we can repair it as cost-effectively as possible.”
Further news from the Munich district can be found here.