Police officer steals money during theft inspection in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Tables were turned when a police officer stole thousands of dollars from the drawer of a currency office in Istanbul’s Fatih district in December 2017 while he inspecting the crime scene of a robbery.

The officer was inspecting a one-minute theft incident carried out by five persons at around 4:50 a.m. local time at a currency bureau in the district of Fatih on the European side of the city.

The criminals broke the shop front roller shutters using a crowbar. Once inside, they located the safe containing money and the gold and dragged it outside. The thieves had a car waiting outside, in which they placed the items they had stolen before they vanished.

Before the crime scene inspection, the estimated loss caused by the theft was around 2,100,000 Turkish Liras and a kilo of gold, daily Habertürk reported on Jan. 29.

However, when police arrived at the scene for the criminal procedures in follow-up of the crime, ironically, one of the officers contributed to the losses.

During his inspection of the crime scene, the officer stole $5,000 and 5,000 Turkish Liras that were left behind in a drawer by the previous thieves.

He was later spotted in the security footage after the second incident was filed to the police station.

The criminal cop was later detained in his home.

Although the police officer admitted to the crime and said he would return the money, the prosecutor’s office initially asked to sentence him to 10 years in prison.

“I owed money. I regret it,” the officer said in a statement explaining his justification for the crime.

After that, the prosecutor requested compensation for the loss and asked the suspect to be tried based on effective remorse law, as the owner of the bureau dropped the charges.

Windows shattered for giant teddy bears

A group of people who got out of a car in the Turkish capital Ankara broke the windows of a toy shop in the Ziraat neighborhood before they stole giant teddy bears, daily Hürriyet reported on Jan. 29.

The group, who then fled the scene, were spotted in the security footage recorded by the cameras near the shop.

According to the footage, the car accelerated toward the shop after one person got out of the car.

The person then rapidly collected giant plush bears from the broken window of the shop.

Yet, he could only fit three of them in the back seat of the car, the report said.

The thief, who then jumped in the front seat, got out of the car again to steal one more.

The business owner, who shared the security footage from the incident on social media accounts, claimed the giant teddy bears were robbed since Valentine’s Day is approaching, according to the report.