Penny robbery in Südlengern: Indebted Lübbeckers steal 4,500 euros

frets. There are only a few minutes left until closing time on the evening of January 21, 2020. It is an ice-cold but dry evening. In the penny market in Südlengern (Kirchlengern), the last three customers are gathering their goods and then going to the checkout. While one of the two Penny employees still present works the cash register, the other makes the final arrangements for the store to close. But the after-work atmosphere is suddenly destroyed at 8:50 p.m.

Two men with balaclavas over their heads and faces storm into the store. They carry what is later identified as an ax and sledgehammer and threaten those present with them. The perpetrators stole 4,500 euros that were in a safe. But they don’t expect their crime to be discovered any quicker than they would like.

The latest episode of “OstwestFallen”, the true crime podcast from “Neue Westfälische”, is about the spectacular police operation and the subsequent investigations that reveal the sad background to the crime. Birgit Gottwald and Gerald Dunkel, editors of the “Neues Westfälisches”, talk about this.

Penny robbery – the case at a glance:

• Shortly before closing time, two men with balaclavas over their heads stormed the Penny market in Südlengern. You receive 4,500 euros from the safe.
• Before the crime, a police patrol drives past the Penny parking lot and sees the perpetrators getting out of their car. The police immediately call a special task force.
• One of the perpetrators flees and leaves his accomplices in the vault. The other is arrested not far from the penny market.
• The perpetrators say they drank at least two bottles of whiskey before the crime. The police found a third bottle in the car.
• After a trip to Turkey, the fleeing perpetrator is arrested at the airport. During the interrogation, the investigators find out the background to the crime.

Police patrol sees perpetrator before the crime – and calls for backup

At the moment when they get out of their car in the parking lot before the crime and pull the balaclavas over their heads, a police patrol drives past – without the perpetrators noticing it – and immediately alerts other units and a special operations team.

Also read: Penny robbery: Perpetrators drive to the robbery in their own car

While one of the two perpetrators is in the vault with one of the Penny employees, the other, who is watching over the hostages in the sales room, notices that a large police presence is forming outside. He finally flies – without prey – and leaves his accomplices behind. The accomplice with the money is also able to leave the penny market, but is spotted by police officers in a police helicopter with a thermal imaging camera and ultimately arrested not far from the crime scene.

The other perpetrator left Germany shortly afterwards and was arrested by the federal police two weeks later at Hanover Airport upon re-entry from Turkey.

The perpetrator had accumulated a large mountain of debt

During interrogations, the two perpetrators, who lived in Lübbecke, explained that they had debts. One, a 36-year-old, has accumulated a mountain of debt of 200,000 euros, which came about through his gambling addiction. His 48-year-old accomplice, who was initially able to escape, said he had 60,000 euros in debt, which he got through consumer loans. Alcohol also played a big role in both of them.

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So both of you state that you drank at least two bottles of whiskey before the crime in Südlengern. Investigators found a third, still full bottle in the younger perpetrator’s private car, in which they traveled to the robbery in Südlengern on January 21, 2020, where they actually expected loot of 50,000 euros.

The 36-year-old was sentenced in June 2020 to 3 years and 9 months in open prison and was therefore punished less than an accomplice. The reason for this is his help with education and a “good social prognosis”. The older perpetrator receives 4 years and 6 months without prison relief. He is denied open prison because he has to undergo alcohol withdrawal.