Chocolate robbery in Bad Schandau: Police discovered 30 packs!

Chocolate robbery in Bad Schandau: Police discovered 30 packs!

The police in Bad Schandau (Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district) discovered a special “sweet stolen item” during a check on Wednesday. The officers confronted a 30-year-old who was traveling on the S-Bahn without a valid ticket. During the check, the police found almost 30 packs of stolen chocolate, which the man apparently did not pay for himself. It happened as it had to happen: he was taken to the police station, where the chocolate turned out to be another chapter in his criminal career. The man already has over 40 entries in his criminal record for theft and obtaining benefits by fraud.

The Federal Police Inspectorate Berggiesshübel informed about the incident and noted that the number of its entries is continuing to increase as a result of this current incident. Another complaint was filed for theft and fraudulent use of benefits. The incident sheds light on a growing problem: thefts in Germany increased again in 2022, as Statista reports. In total, around 1.78 million police-recorded thefts were recorded, with shoplifting leading the way.

Another chocolate debacle in Bochum

Interestingly, the chocolate has also caused a stir in Bochum. On March 15, 2025, federal police checked two suspicious young men at Bochum main train station. They seemed quite nervous and made a neglected impression. During the check, officers discovered 42 stolen chocolate bars, worth around 160 euros, in the possession of a 19-year-old. Her accomplice, a 20-year-old, also had two chocolate bars and two cans of drinks with him. Together, the two of them also had cosmetics worth around 49 euros stowed in a handbag.

As Presseportal reports, after a short interrogation, the two admitted that they had stolen the goods from a grocery store in Bochum and a drugstore at Essen main station the day before. The branches there confirmed the thefts and secured video recordings, which prompted the police to initiate an investigation into commercial theft. Both suspects have previous convictions for theft, which doesn't make the situation any better.

Theft trends in Germany

The developments clearly show that theft remains an explosive issue in Germany. The 2022 spike marked the first increase in theft crimes since 2015, drawing attention from the public and authorities. The most common cases are shoplifting, followed by bicycle theft and theft from motor vehicles. In North Rhine-Westphalia, where Bochum is located, the authorities counted over 23,500 residential burglaries in 2022, which accounts for over 35% of all cases in the federal states.

The clearance rate for residential burglaries was just 16.1% in 2022, which underlines the challenges for the police. Theft therefore remains a serious problem, regardless of whether it is a small theft of chocolate or a larger, more serious offense. The two incidents in Bad Schandau and Bochum are just examples of a series of thefts that have recently caught the attention of the media.