SPANISH police have arrested a contortionist thief who hid inside a suitcase on a bus to steal from holidaymakers’ luggage.
Officers at Girona airport were shocked to find a 1.78m man curled up inside a suitcase which had been reported as suspicious by a member of the public.
According to the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, the ‘very unusual modus operandi’ saw an accomplice buy a ticket for the bus to Barcelona and then store the case in the luggage hold of the vehicle.
The flexible thief – who was found with a smaller case, a head torch, and a mobile phone – would then leave his hiding place to steal valuables from holidaymakers’ luggage during the hour-long journey.
Afterwards he claimed back inside his case, and was later collected by his partner in crime.
The pair – named as Krzysztof Grzegorz, 29, and Jouoastaw K, 31 – are believed to have been responsible for stealing a laptop and a GPS device last month and investigations are now underway into other robberies which have been reported.
“It was a very unusual modus operandi,” a police spokesman said.
“I believe this is what the British call an open-and-shut case.”
