Tag Archives | Theft

World’s Most Infamous Cat Burglar Of The Rich Dies At 82

By on March 27, 2013 in News 0

Telegraph a man who embodied crime as a philosophy and way of life:

Peter Scott, who has died aged 82, was a highly accomplished cat burglar, and took particular pains to select his victims from the ranks of aristocrats, film stars and even royalty.

By his own reckoning, Scott stole jewels, furs and artworks worth more than £30 million. He held none of his victims in great esteem (“upper-class prats chattering in monosyllables”). According to a list of 100 names he supplied, he targeted figures such as Soraya Khashoggi, Shirley MacLaine, the Shah of Iran, Judy Garland and even Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. He asserted that he had been “sent by God to take back some of the wealth that the outrageously rich had taken from the rest of us”.

By the mid-1990s, Scott had served 12 years in prison in the course of half a dozen separate stretches, and claimed to have retired from a life of crime.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 0

What the Sock?

By on December 16, 2012 in News 4

Picture: Calliopejen (CC)

A “socklifter” is on the loose in Japan according to France 24:

A Japanese high school girl who was tackled by a sock-stealing thief is the latest victim in a series of similar attacks against teenage targets, police said Friday.

The 16-year-old was walking in an eastern Tokyo suburb on Thursday when she was wrestled to the ground by a man who ripped a sock off her left foot and fled with the goods.

At least four other high school girls in the same neighbourhood have been victims of socklifters since September, police said.

The latest victim was not injured by the thief, who appeared to be in his thirties or forties. It remained unclear if the same man was responsible for all the incidents.

“In the third case, a man took the girl’s leggings off. In all the other cases, victims lost one of their socks,” said a local police officer.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 4

What the TSA Does with All of the Weapons it Confiscates

By on December 12, 2012 in News 5

Ever wonder what happened to the authentic ninja sword you bought at the flea market in San Bernardino?

They shipped away for the holidays/Said they’re going to L.A./But they never got there/They never got there/They never got there, they say/The TSA took my weapons away/They took them away/Away from me/The TSA took my weapons away/They took them away/Away from me

Continue Reading · 5

3,500 Year-Old Historical Monument Destroyed by Morons

By on November 24, 2012 in News 19

Picture: Jproy2101 (CC)

“We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children” – Native American proverb

Petroglyphs look not unlike the hieroglyphs you see carved onto the walls of pyramids. They’re used to pass on the spiritual teachings of Native Americans from generation to generation. There are some etched on cliffs in the Eastern Sierra that have been there for more than three and a half thousand years. The region is known as Volcanic Tableland and it is held sacred by the Paiute-Shoshone tribe. According to The LA Times a gang of thieves have now, in a matter of hours, cut at least four of the sacred monuments down and successfully stolen them away. Apparently two others were seriously damaged and dozens more scarred with clumsy hammer blows and saw cuts. These monuments are some of the oldest treasures in the United States:

“The individuals who did this were not surgeons, they were smashing and grabbing,” U.S.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 19

1,000 Year Old Stolen Buddha Statue is from Outerspace

By on September 27, 2012 in News 14

Picture: E. Weiß: "Bilderatlas der Sternenwelt"

Via Rawstory

A thousand-year-old Buddhist statue taken from Tibet in 1938 by an SS team seeking the roots of Hitler’s Aryan doctrine was carved from a meteorite, scientists reported on Wednesday.

In a paper published in an academic journal, German and Austrian researchers recount an extraordinary tale where archaeology, the Third Reich and cosmic treasure are intertwined like an Indiana Jones movie.

Called the “Iron Man” because of the high content of iron in its rock, the 24-centimetre (10-inch) -high statue was brought to Germany by an expedition led by Ernst Schaefer, a zoologist and ethnologist.

Backed by SS chief Heinrich Himmler and heading a team whose members are all believed to have been SS, Schaefer roamed Tibet in 1938-9 to search for the origins of Aryanism, the notion of racial superiority that underpinned Nazism.

Weighing 10.6 kilos (23.3 pounds), the statue features the Buddhist god Vaisravana seated, with the palm of his right hand outstretched and pointing downwards.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 14

Man Arrested For Stealing Chile’s Jorge Montt Glacier

By on February 6, 2012 in News 16

a-chunk-of-stolen-glacial-008A fascinating environmental crime. A man stole a five-ton portion of the fast-vanishing glacier, a national monument — the ice was to be used to create the most rarified of illegal cocktails — a drink which will be impossible post climate-change. Via the Guardian:

Police in Chile have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from the Jorge Montt glacier in the Patagonia region to sell as designer ice cubes in bars and restaurants.

Local media reported that last Friday police intercepted a refrigerated truck with an estimated £3,900 worth of illicit ice allegedly bound for whiskies, rums and cocktails in the capital Santiago. Authorities have accused the driver of theft and are considering adding violation of national monuments to the charge sheet.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 16

Americans Shoplifted Almost $2 Billion Of Stuff This Christmas

By on December 27, 2011 in News 21

shoplift Santa has sticky fingers. Via the Atlantic Wire:

Hope you have a Merry Christmas, America, because you’ve been extremely naughty at the mall this year. After surveying retailers in the U.S., the Global Retail Theft Barometer says that shoppers pinched $1.8 billion worth of merchandise during the four weeks leading up to Christmas, reports the AP. $1.8 billion! For context, $1.8 billion is a 6 percent increase from 2010.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 21

Pentagon Admits $6 Billion In Cash Was Stolen In Iraq

By on June 15, 2011 in News 14

419-iraq-moneyThey shouldn’t beat themselves up over it — just yesterday it took me twenty minutes to find my keys. The Los Angeles Times reports:

In the year after the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration flooded the conquered country with cash to pay for reconstruction — wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.

This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash. For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 14