‘Cinderella’ thief, a passport in a toilet and the week’s other odd crimes

16 July, 2008, 14:51

Don’t eat your passport, don’t do a favour to a girl you’re giving a lift to and make sure you haven’t lost your shoes – and you won’t have problems with the law. However, some people didn’t follow these simple rules and got into the most foolish situations imaginable.

‘Cinderella thief’

A thief in the Russian city of Tambov who stole a DVD player from a shop was caught on the same day as the careless criminal lost his slippers at the crime scene. The shop assistant called police and said she had the slippers as evidence. The police officers spread information around the area, and soon the patrol noticed a young man who was very much like the one described by the witness.

“The police officers’ suspicions grew even stronger when they saw the young man was barefoot,” says Tambov’s police press service.

The suspect tried to run away, but was quickly caught. He turned out to be going back from his friend’s place where he had hidden the stolen player.

Stuck in the air

A Sudanese citizen has been spending recent days in the air, having several times repeated a flight from Kiev to Rome and back. He is thought to have eaten his passport or drowned it in the toilet – that might be his way of illegal immigration to EU, because as he got stuck in a European airport without the document he could not to be deported.

The Sudanese who says his name is Odam was flying from Kiev to Cairo via Rome when the problem with his passport occurred. The Fiumicino Airport personnel became suspicious as the passenger didn’t look like the photo in his passport, so the original document is thought to be destroyed by the owner, Ukrainian newspaper “Segodnya” writes.

Odam was held at the police station for three days, but his identity was not proved, so he was sent back to Kiev airport “Borisopol” at the expense of the air company. Ukrainian custom officers made an attempt to send him back to Rome, but he was returned to Kiev. Meeting their ‘old friend’ again, the Ukrainians were so puzzled they could not think of anything better that leaving him in the plane for a whole night. In the morning he was sent to Rome – but only to come back in a while.

It’s unclear now how many more flights Sudan’s citizen will have to make, but it is reported that the air company and the customs officials have made a decision to keep Odam in custody for some time and return him to Sudan as soon as possible.

Moscow’s charming joy-rider

Moscow’s police have caught a girl who must have used her charm and beauty to steal a car in broad daylight. She asked a driver to give her a lift to the nearest metro station and during a ride said that she was thirsty. A generous car owner couldn’t but meet the girl’s request, but when he stopped and went out to buy some water, he saw his car moving off as he didn’t bother to take the key with him. In less that an hour the thief and the stolen car were found.

Hunger that prevented crime

A motor mechanic in the Russian city of Tumen has stolen two cars from the garage he worked at, but soon was found by police after running out of petrol and food in a nearby town.

First he stole a Nissan but as he drove out he realised he’d run out of fuel and could not make it to a petrol station. Then he returned back to his garage and stole another car – a Toyota.

He reached the village of Kamyshlovo in Sverdlovsk region and decided to stay overnight there. As he woke up in 'his' car he discovered the engine didn't start. The locals refused to assist the stranger, who was desperately hungry, so he was forced to call the police.

Police officers brought the thief back to Tumen and placed him in custody. The young man confessed to the officers that he only stole the cars to have a fun ride, as he's never driven a vehicle of the kind.

The 20-year-old man had previously been convicted of crimes.

Jobless men battle for cash bag

In Ekaterinburg, a man was attacked at midday. The assailant gave his victim several blows with a pipe and took a bag with 3 million roubles (130 thousand dollars) in cash. It took the robbed man two days to report the attack to the police. Three days later the alleged attacker was arrested. Both men were reported as having no job.