Weird news - Feeding a thief to extract gold

People smuggling items across airports and borders is one of the biggest problems that police and security agencies have to deal with. Smuggling routes and carriers can be quite sophisticated, and sometimes these routes are something new that agencies don't know about and it takes some time for that route to be intercepted and blocked, and the carriers captured. One of the ways that is common now, used especially for drugs and sometimes for other items, is for the carrier to ingest the item so that it is not obvious that they are carrying such items. Once in a while, these drug packets can burst, which can cause the death of the carrier.
The problem when somebody ingested such items is about getting it outside. So, if a person has ingested gold, it can be detected through x-ray and other devices; but how to get it out. Other than cutting up the person, the only way is for the person to excrete the items through the normal way that they get rid of body waste, through their potty. How to ensure this happens quickly, feed them items that cause them to quickly want to poop, The same happens when a thief runs off with gold, but is then caught and wants to get rid of the evidence (link to article):

The Mumbai police force-fed four dozen bananas to a chain-snatcher to recover a stolen gold chain which he had swallowed in an attempt to not get caught, an officer said on Saturday. The incident occurred in the Ghatkopar east fish market in the eastern suburbs late Wednesday night when the accused, Gopi R Ghaware snatched and ran off with a woman’s 25 gms gold chain. As the woman screamed, some residents gave chase, pinned him down and hammered him, according to investigating officer Kailash Tirmare of Pant Nagar Police Station.

Weird news - Thief sends own photo to police

Vanity gone to a new high, incredible stupidity, or sheer arrogance that nothing could happen. When the police are hunting for a suspect, they look for some means of identification, such as a photo. Now, these photos that the police can get is something that is in most cases not ideal - the police could be old, or taken from a side, or taken with some hat or cap or spectacles on, anything that makes the photo different from a passport type photo.
When the police do get a photo of a person who they are hunting for, they would publicize the photo or push it through channels, so that other police stations could pull in the person if they came across, or members of the public could find and report such a person to the police. The better the photo, the faster it is likely that the outstanding person could be captured. So, when you think that in a weird case, such a fugitive would come across their photo put out by the police, and send a better photo to the police, it would seem like the ultimate ego (link to article):

A wanted man in Ohio wasn't happy with his mugshot — so he offered police a "helpful" hand in the form of a selfie. The Lima Police Department said Donald A. Chip Pugh is wanted for failing to appear in court for a DUI and is also a person of interest in other cases including an arson and vandalism. The 45-year-old, though, obviously did not approve of official mug shots circulated by the department. It said Pugh had sent police a new picture showing him in a suit and glasses while sitting in a car with a sunroof.

Weird news - Suspected thief stuck in chimney, dies after fire lit

It's always been a horror story. Imagine those scenes in movies where people try to enter a secure place or escape captivity by going through narrow pipes or metal tubes where there is a flame going to come through, or a fan moves at regular intervals that can cut people to pieces, and they manage to make it through everytime. Real life is more dangerous, and people are not successful every time they try to make it through such dangerous entrances. One of the perennial questions about the concept of Santa Claus is about coming in the house through a chimney, and whether Santa would get stuck inside the chimney or if the fire was lit, then it would get real dangerous. In a tragic case, a real life situation ended up where a suspected thief tried to enter the house through a chimney, got stuck, and died when the house owner lit a fire (without knowing that there was somebody stuck in the chimney). What a horrible way to die, although it might be the gases passing through the confined chimney rather than the fire or heat itself (link to article):

The man appeared to have climbed into the chimney during the night while the owner was away and then became stuck, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. The owner of the home in Huron lit a fire in his fireplace on Saturday afternoon but then heard a man yelling inside the chimney as the house filled with smoke, the sheriff's office said in a statement. The homeowner tried to extinguish the flames but firefighters who dismantled the chimney during a rescue effort found the suspect dead inside, the sheriff's office said.

Weird news: Thief gets locked inside ATM

An ATM seems such an effective way to get money. You go to an ATM, put in your card, enter a password, and can get your money easily. This also makes it attractive to thieves. Some try to waylay people who are trying to withdraw their money (typically at isolated locations, or when it is darker), although in recent times there have been cases when people just try to steal the ATM machine itself. After all, the machine contains the money inside it, and when there is money inside a box, no matter how strong the box is, one can finally break it open and take the money. One bi variable in the business is about when the ATM is full of money or when it is almost empty.
Given this recent trend, ATM manufacturers and banks try to beat these thieves; some of these include ensuring a CCTV in the ATM room, having any attempts to tamper with the ATM's triggering an alarm, and some automation. This thief below would never have figured out that his attempt to steal from the ATM would ensure that he gets stuck in a dark room unless he was let out by the police (link to article):

"The accused has been identified as Zakhir, a 26-year-old carpenter. He entered the ATM when the guard was not there and tried to break open the machine using his carpentry tools. Failing in opening the machine he entered a small room built inside ATM to which the machine is attached, and tried to open the cash box of the machine from there," police said. "The intrusion detection system installed inside the automated teller machine got triggered by his efforts and the small cabin got jammed. The doors got locked and the lights went off. Zakhir got trapped inside the cabin, and an automatic message was generated by the system to its head office in Mumbai. The branch then informed its Delhi office which contacted the guard to locate his position," said a senior police officer.

Weird news - Broke into a store, ate and then went to sleep

The normal expectation from thieves is that they are very smart, can quickly make their way inside an establishment, break into safes, steal valuables, and leave no traces for the police to find (well, that they are capable of all of this is an exaggeration, but this is what movies tend to portray). However, one would think that there is a reasonable expectation that somebody who has come to steal something is likely to be sharp, not spending any more time than required and be able to quickly be out before somebody can figure out that there is a thief on the premises.
However, in reality, thieves can be blundering folks, leaving clues all over the place, and ensuring that law enforcement can catch and convict many of such people. However, one needs to be special to take steps that all but ensures that the person will be caught easily, without any major effort on the part of the police. What would one say about this thief, who broke into a store, stole some sausages, and then apparently went to sleep there, giving police no effort when they came to arrest him. And what caused all this behavior ? Liquor intoxication happened, ensuring that correct powers of judgment were out of the window (link to article):

The intruder then takes some sausages from the meat-processing business, goes back outside and then returns, grabbing a coat and falling asleep in the back office. Austin police officers woke up Ricardo Cardona, who told police he'd been out drinking, and charged him with criminal trespassing. It wasn't immediately clear whether Cardona has an attorney. The store owner says insurance money paid for a replacement door.

Weird news - Want to steal money from an ATM ? Take the entire ATM with you

Seems like the most logical step to take, right ? You are a group of thieves and are planning to steal money / need some money. Well, there is this machine that is dispensing cash to everybody, so it must contain a lot of money. Now, how to take the money ? It is not so easy to break into an ATM machine since it contains a number of security safeguards, and there would be people nearby (because of which you cannot take the amount of time you would require to break into the machine). Further, because of security issues, or even because of thieves forcing people to withdraw money at gun-point, ATM's now come equipped with CCTV cameras. This makes thieving a bit difficult. The solution ? Take the entire ATM with you, and then you can open the ATM at your own time, and the company has no way to find out where you have gone (link to article):

A shopkeeper noticed that the machine inside the ATM cabinet was missing and immediately informed the police. The police said the thieves had first blocked the view of the camera fitted at the entrance of the ATM booth with a flex board and then decamped with the cash machine containing Rs. 7.6 lakh. This happened just a day after a similar attempt-to-break-in occurred at the ATM centre on Jangali Maharaj Road. The thieves there were, however, unsuccessful. The Dehu road police said the incident took place in the wee hours yesterday. The burglars were successful in their handiwork because the machine was not fixed properly to the floor.