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Two teenage Syrian refugees have confessed to the murder of a man found bound with cable ties and strangled in a bath tub.

The 19-year-olds were arrested in the towns of Puch bei Hallein and Thalgau, close to the murder scene in the Austrian city of Salzburg.

According to a report by the Salzburg Nachrichten , the victim was a Serbian national who worked as a toilet cleaner at the Salzburg railway station who had befriended the two young men, who have not been named, and invited them back to his house.

It appears that they accepted the invitation with the intention of committing the crime, as before the two Syrians went to the victim’s home, they bought a 'death kit' of disposable gloves and tape at a nearby gas station, according to local media.

According to Salzburg police Superintendent Franz Ruf, they then attacked the man after a short conversation.

(Image: SN/ROBERT RATZER)

The refugees are said to have tied the 30-year-old Serb up using cable ties before repeatedly beating him in an attempt to force him to hand over his bank card PIN code .

Reports say that one of the offenders then admitted to having strangled the victim. It is not yet known if the refugees managed to get the code and were able to withdraw money using the victim’s card.

They are said to have left the victim’s body in the bathtub which they filled up with water and to cover their tracks, they added detergent, shampoo and shower gel to the water.

Because the plug was leaking, police officers found the body in an empty bathtub after the victim’s father sounded the alarm when he did not hear back from his son.

(Image: SN/ROBERT RATZER) (Image: SN/ROBERT RATZER)

Police Colonel Karl-Heinz Pracher from the State Criminal Police Office said the whole apartment of the victim had been ransacked by the two refugees.

He said: "It was a huge mess, they had thrown everything on the floor."

The duo took clothes, shoes, a razor, a hair dryer and two phones with them in a bin bag. One of the refugees had distinctive curly hair according to witnesses who spotted the perpetrators and later described their appearance to police.

After he was identified police confirmed that he had already been granted refugee status and had been living in Austria since 2014.

After his arrest, his fingerprints and the fingerprints of his friend were taken and police confirmed they had also been linked with numerous other crimes, ranging from property crimes to violent attacks with bodily injuries.

The Syrian was caught after he was arrested in Germany on 13th July at the border railway station of Freilassing and he was deported back to Austria.

While processing the paperwork, police realised that he was wearing the victim’s clothes.

Both of the men have confessed to the crime, according to the police who said that when the Syrian was asked why he was wearing the clothes of his victim, he reportedly said: "I don't see why I should not, I washed them before I put them on."