Burglars Foil Guards at Vienna Leader’s Home
Austria launched a security probe Monday after burglars slipped past elite police guards and broke into the Vienna home of Chancellor Franz Vranitzky.
Police said the thieves stole about $85,000 worth of jewelry and other valuables from Vranitzky’s villa Thursday while he was vacationing in Italy. “Theoretically, the chancellor could have been abducted without the guards even noticing. In any case, the security arrangements for Chancellor Vranitzky now have to be swiftly reviewed,” a police source told the Neue Kronen Zeitung daily.
The chancellor’s home is guarded round-the-clock by Austria’s anti-terrorist squad. But the burglars approached the chancellor’s home unnoticed through the garden, climbed onto a terrace and smashed a window to gain access.
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