Passed with petrol stations: Afghan perpetrators with accomplices!

Passed with petrol stations: Afghan perpetrators with accomplices!

A 21-year-old Afghan man was sentenced to three years of imprisonment by the regional court of Eisenstadt after attacking a total of three petrol stations in Lower Austria in spring 2025. In these raids, he captured around 4,000 euros. The defendant suffers from gambling addiction, which his deeds significantly influenced, according to the court. In addition, he had debts with friends and unobstructed rent payments to the community. The man lived in a refugee home in northern Burgenland.

The raids took place using a long kitchen knife. The perpetrator made the first raid alone and with a bike, while he worked with a 16-year complicity in the later deeds. The older perpetrator sent the young people to the petrol stations as scouts to explain the gender of the employees. At a particularly dramatic moment, he asked a cashier to expose himself while threatening her with the knife. Both perpetrators could be identified by video images of the petrol station camera.

sentence and illegality of the acts

The 16-year-old accomplice was sentenced to 18 months in prison, which was suspended for 12 months. However, both judgments are not yet final. The frequency of such raids reflects one of the greatest challenges for the security forces, especially against the background of increasing crime rates in Austria. According to an analysis by Statista, there were around 528,000 crimes indicated in 2023, the highest level since 2016. It is particularly noticeable that over a third of the crimes displayed were committed in Vienna.

In the context of crime in Austria, the role of foreign suspects must also be taken into account. In 2022, around 43% of the suspects and convicted foreigners were, while 58% of the newly detained were also foreign origin.

further raids in Munich

These incidents not only underline the dramatic situation in the field of crime, but also show the challenges that the security forces face to ensure public security. It remains to be seen which measures will be taken to protect the citizens in the coming months.

For detailed information on the increasing crime in Austria and the associated statistics, see Statista . You can also find the reporting on the attack in Munich in the evening newspaper . The exact circumstances of the raids in Lower Austria are described in detail by our Central Europe