Berlin-Britz: Four suspects held after alleged theft of car rims
Plainclothes officers and a police helicopter watched men unloading rims at a garage. Arrest warrants for aggravated gang theft were issued against the four men, aged 21 to 28.
Symbolic image · Photo: Auge24.eu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Berlin police have arrested four men aged 21, 22, 23 and 28 who are suspected of stealing car rims as a gang. Officers moved in in the Britz district at about 7 a.m. on Oct. 6, police said on Monday: three suspects were detained in the yard of a car repair shop, the fourth after a short chase. Plainclothes officers had earlier seen two vehicles drive onto the premises, and a police helicopter crew watched as allegedly stolen rims were unloaded.
The Berlin public prosecutor's office had requested the arrests and searches. An investigating judge at Tiergarten district court ordered searches of the men's homes and the workshop, during which officers seized several sets of tyres believed to be stolen. On Oct. 7, the judge issued arrest warrants against all four on suspicion of aggravated gang theft. The investigation is continuing.