Already a few years ago, the new burglary method was discovered in Europe, which involves the thieves pouring some kind of acid or corrosive liquid on the door locks.
The method is silent and therefore very difficult to detect.
The police warn: “Poured acid in the lock cylinder”
Earlier this summer, the police began to receive alarms indicating that the cunning acid burglaries had also reached Sweden. Last weekend, the police were alerted to several addresses on Kungsholmen in central Stockholm, where several residents in apartment buildings were subjected to burglaries or attempted burglaries.
– It is residents in multi-apartment buildings who discover that someone has tried to get in to a neighbor but failed, says Daniel Wikdahlpress spokesperson for the police, to TT.
“The modus operandi is that acid has been poured into the lock cylinder and then entered the home and seized goods,” the police wrote on their Facebook in connection with the incident.
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This is how thieves see if you are at home – a clever trick
And there’s a lot of evidence that the thieves seem to have a special trick to find out if you’re home or not, before choosing which homes to break into
In a Facebook group, residents on Kungsholmen, where several burglaries have taken place, say that a number of apartments have discovered that they have a discreet string of glue between the door and the door frame, something Svenska Dagbladet was the first to notice.
If the string breaks, it means the door has been opened – a strong indicator that the occupants are home. An untouched string of glue, on the other hand, says the opposite, and the situation is suddenly more risk-free for the burglars.
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Connection cannot be guaranteed
But determining whether there is a connection between the glue strings and the new type of break-in is difficult.
– We ourselves have also seen such on a few occasions and whether it is connected with the burglary we cannot say for sure. But it is quite likely that it is in some way that has been done to make sure that people are not at home, says Monica Krugeroperational coordinator at the border police, who specializes in organized international crime, to SvD.
If the trick has a direct connection to the acid burglaries, the approach is not new, according to Krüger.
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