Overview
- A witness called police around 5:00, and officers detained three suspects within minutes as a roughly 100‑liter barrel was being loaded into a Sprinter in the Salzburger Stuben courtyard.
- The suspects are two 36‑year‑old men and a 48‑year‑old woman from Bad Harzburg, who were taken to the Revier Mitte for further processing.
- Investigators are examining links to multiple prior thefts at the same site and have opened cases for several counts of communal theft, including potential resale channels.
- Used cooking oil is treated as a valuable secondary raw material, with recyclers receiving up to €900 per 1,000 kilograms and the industry reporting annual losses in the millions.
- The BDE cites more than 7,000 reported cases in 2023 and describes organized groups feeding stolen oil into informal markets, with separate police checks elsewhere uncovering vans filled with barrels.