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PV system in Schleswig-Holstein: The solar panels stolen in Bavaria were intended for such a solar field.
Photo: Axel Heimken / dpa
The energy transition is apparently also changing the prey scheme of thieves: In Landsberg am Lech, previously unknown perpetrators have stolen almost 600 solar modules from a solar field under construction.
On Tuesday night, the criminals are said to have succeeded unnoticed in loading the modules with a total weight of around 15 tons onto vehicles and transporting them along a dirt road, police said. The loot has a value of around 70,000 euros. Among other things, on suspicion of aggravated gang theft, the Fürstenfeldbruck criminal investigation department has taken up investigations and is looking for witnesses.
In the summer, there had already been a similar theft in the area. In Denklingen, not far from Denklingen, not far from Landsberg, perpetrators took 800 solar modules from a construction site in mid-July, a cargo of about 23 tons and worth around 100,000 euros. The modules were also intended for the construction of a solar field.
Heat pumps also in sight
Recently, thieves had already increasingly hunted down heat pumps (click here for a report on the phenomenon – and the question of how you can protect yourself). For example, the State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA) in Baden-Württemberg reported isolated thefts in which the pumps were "mainly on construction sites or in shells". Some of them had been lying unattended in the open, so that thefts had occurred "regardless of weight", "possibly with the help of larger transport vehicles".
The Bavarian LKA is also aware of "low single-digit figures" of thefts and property damage to heat pumps. In Brandenburg, there were ten cases in 2022, according to local security authorities. In Lower Saxony, the LKA recorded a low double-digit number and a slight increase compared to the previous year. Other incidents were reported in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
beb/dpa