Police have arrested five men who used dog poo to distract bank staff and steal valuables while they were trying to clear up the mess.
One of the suspects dropped the turd on the floor just inside the front door and got the attention of customers and workers while others allegedly got to work pinching whatever they could lay their hands on in the confusion.
Even the bank director left his office to see what the fuss was after one of the thieves started shouting out: ‘How disgusting, where’s the cleaner?’ as the dog poo dropper left the smelly present.
Police have arrested five men who used dog poo to distract bank staff and steal valuables while they were trying to clear up the mess. Pictured: One of the suspects dropped the turd on the floor just inside the front door
Spanish National Police revealed details of the bizarre crime at a bank in the Spanish port city of Cartagena as they announced they had arrested the five suspects.
The gang, from Colombia, Mexico and Cuba, pretended to be strangers and entered the bank separately before starting their crime spree.
A police spokesman said: ‘They formed a totally heterogenous group. One wore a suit and tie, another was dressed in sports clothes with a baseball cap, one looked like a pensioner, one was a woman and another had long hair bunched up in a ponytail.
‘Their objective was to try to make sure the bank workers didn’t realise they were part of an organised gang.
‘Each had a different role and when one managed to get to see the bank director in his office, another managed to draw peoples’ attention to an animal excrement another suspect had previously dropped near the door.
‘That way they managed to secure the attention of customers and bank employees including the director by shouting things like ‘What a disgrace, what about the cleaning!’.
‘The person in the director’s office was able to move about freely and take everything that had been left lying around.
‘The suspects left the bank in different directions after taking what they wanted.’
The items and valuables the suspects, aged 21 to 61, had stolen were not immediately revealed.
As well as the theft in Cartagena, they have also been accused of 15 other crimes around Spain including an incident in which an OAP had nearly £7,000 taken in June.
The gang is thought to have used a different series of tactics. It is not known if they had used the dog poo trick before.
Four of the five suspects, thought to have operated elsewhere in Europe because they had been banned from entering Italy, were in Spain illegally.
Police say they always tried to act near motorways so they could make a quick getaway.