Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN

These bungling crooks who nicked a safe from an electrician’s before fleeing in a Mercedes van were caught out when their faces were snapped by a speed camera.

In Germany, speed cameras are mounted so as to take pictures of the front of the vehicle in order to clarify not only what vehicle was speeding, but also to photograph the driver so there is no argument about who was at the wheel.

That meant that not only the driver of the stolen vehicle but his apparent accomplice were photographed full on, giving the cops the perfect identikit picture for a public appeal.

Pictures Credit: CEN

Strict privacy laws mean other avenues of enquiry need to be exhausted first, but when they failed to discover the identities of the thieves who broke into the electrician’s on the Boeler Strasse in the city of Hagen in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia, they applied and were given permission to make the picture public.

The crooks had managed to smash the safe out of a wall but realised it was too heavy to carry away and they did not have time to open it on site. So they used one of the electrician’s vans, a Mercedes Vito, which was later found dumped in a business park nearby.

Police however who worked out the route looking for clues then discovered that the pair had been photographed by one of the speed cameras.

Local police spokesman Sebastian Hirschberg said: “We are appealing for anybody who can identify the people featured in the photograph. We would ask them to call the police station here with any information.”