The BBC warns that someone is nabbing expensive jewelry across Europe with a slight of hand. It is the case of a thief in headscarf:
A jewel thief dressed as a wealthy Muslim woman has stolen rings worth hundreds of thousands of euros from dealers across Europe, police say.
The woman, wearing a headscarf, coat and gold-framed glasses, is suspected of swapping gems for replicas.
In one incident in Paris, the woman allegedly stole a 5.5 carat diamond ring worth 635,000 euros (£574,000).
The article says it takes a while before staff realize the jewelry has been replaced, and that they often do not have insurance. Classic example of weak controls creating the opportunity for crime. Either the rings are unique and the thief is doing research to replace them with carefully crafted replicas, or these expensive rings are typical examples of bland and uninspired mainstream objects that can be swapped with just about anything and not be noticed.
They allegedly found in the man’s pocket a multi-vitamin container holding two birds eggs, and a further search revealed he was wearing tights with the two live birds stuffed inside, one in each leg.
Officers also seized a money belt containing plant seeds and undeclared samples of eggplant in the passenger’s baggage before he was handed over to Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services staff.
Eggs and eggplant? You don’t suppose he was hoping to grow more birds? Anything special about these pigeons? The photo is quite disturbing so I won’t republish it here, but you may want to click on the link above and look just to see how someone could carry two pigeons in his pants.
The BBC suggests the debate over the sinking of the “mightiest vessel of the 18th Century” can now be put to rest with the ‘Mighty’ HMS Victory wreck found:
The discovery of HMS Victory exonerates Admiral Sir John Balchin, who came out of retirement to command the ship, on what was meant to be his final voyage.
Historians believed the ship was lost due to poor navigation on the Casquets, a group of rocks north-west of Alderney.
But the wreck’s location, 62 miles (100km) away from the rocks, suggests the 74-year-old admiral was not to blame.
Who then? Who is to blame? Mother nature? The architects? How could this 2,000 ton, 175 ft, 100-gun entirely brass cannon First Rate ship of the Royal Navy sink just three years after being name the flagship of the Channel Fleet?
a blog about the poetry of information security, since 1995