Solar parks are often easily accessible and little frequented. Thieves take advantage of this fact. They grabbed it several times in the first few weeks of the year alone. The police are alerted.
Munich (dpa / lby) – Thieves in Bavaria are increasingly targeting solar modules. The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) has already recorded ten thefts this year alone, according to a spokeswoman in Munich. The perpetrators struck three times in the Upper Palatinate. A spokesman for the Presidium in Regensburg said that one could certainly speak of an accumulation. Similar cases to the one in February have so far not existed in the Upper Palatinate.
The perpetrators sometimes made big loot. Thieves stole 29 inverters and other material worth more than 150,000 euros from the site of a solar park in Püchersreuth (Neustadt an der Waldnaab district). During thefts in Guteneck (Schwandorf district) and Tännesberg (Neustadt an der Waldnaab district), the perpetrators stole goods worth several tens of thousands of euros. For the whole of 2021, the LKA counted around 50 thefts of solar modules, last year there were around 80.
Since the perpetrators of some of the thefts this year stole more than a hundred solar modules, the investigators assume that several people were involved in the crimes. It is not yet known if the previous thefts are related. This is part of the ongoing investigation, it said. According to the investigators, after the theft in Guteneck, a vehicle was secured and is now being examined for traces.
It is not known where the stolen goods ended up. The LKA spokeswoman said that the suspects identified so far are Eastern European criminal groups. It can therefore be assumed that the stolen solar modules will be brought to Eastern Europe.
According to the findings of the LKA, rapid removal and good accessibility of the solar parks are particularly important for the perpetrators. The police therefore recommend access barriers and massive access gates for the site.
