Austrian police break down door, wake man at gunpoint – but oops, wrong apartment!

VIENNA – The drug bust was perfectly planned. Unfortunately, Austrian police broke down the wrong door.

Police official Josef Knoflach has confirmed a media report that a SWAT team that used a battering ram to bust into an apartment at daybreak and surround its sleeping tenant with guns drawn was actually meaning to target the neighbouring dwelling.

Knoflach said Friday that police in the southern city of Klagenfurt had a hard time reading the apartment numbers because they decided to leave the hall lights off so as not to arouse suspicion.

They subsequently went next door and found cocaine, cannabis and what police call a suspicious amount of cash. Two men are in custody.

As for the wrong suspect? Knoflach says “compensation forms have been handed out.”