Investigators from the State Criminal Police Office of Lower Austria arrested three men who are said to have grown around 47 kilograms of cannabis on nine plantations in four apartments in Vienna. According to the police broadcast, two of the three men were caught red-handed in December 2022. The third resisted arrest on the same day and attempted to flee towards Hungary by car. He was stopped on the A4 just before the border.
The three men with Serbian citizenship had rented the apartments in Vienna-Ottakring and Vienna-Brigittenau with false IDs and had been cultivating cannabis there since at least winter 2021. A low six-digit euro amount is said to have been generated with the sale of the flowers. The investigators also found more than 5,000 euros in cash in the apartments.
The detectives also found that the meter boxes in each of the apartments had been manipulated and that the electricity had been purchased illegally. This caused the energy provider damage of around 89,000 euros.
The three accused, aged 22, 43 and 45, did not confess when they were questioned. The men were taken to the Vienna-Josefstadt prison by order of the Vienna public prosecutor.
