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Paris: 'Lucky' homeless man pilfers €300,000 from Charles-de-Gaulle airport

The Local France
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Paris: 'Lucky' homeless man pilfers €300,000 from Charles-de-Gaulle airport
AFP

Police in Paris are hunting an opportunistic homeless man who "landed himself a Christmas present" by taking advantage of an unlocked door to steal €300,000 in cash from Charles-de-Gaulle airport.

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The theft is unlikely to inspire the plot of an Ocean's 11 movie, nevertheless it was incredible in its own way.
 
A homeless man in his 50s, who has been sleeping rough at Charles-de-Gaulle airport for some time is now sitting on €300,000 desperately trying to evade capture by police, Le Parisien newspaper reports.
 
All he had to do to pilfer such a large amount of cash was gently push open the door of an office belonging to Loomis, a company which handles cash deliveries to and from businesses. 
 
The door of the offices at terminal 2F is normally locked tight to protect the large amounts of cash stored there, and needs a security code to be opened, but last Friday it was apparently left unlocked, according to reports.
 
At around 5.30pm an alarm was set off at the offices which prompted France's border police to rush to the scene. After looking at CCTV images they saw the homelessman searching in the bins next to the office.
 
He then leans against the door and to his obvious surprise it opened. He drops the bag he is carrying and enters only to return seconds later carrying two bags of money containing a loot of €300,000.
 
A source close to the investigation told Le Parisien newspaper: "This is indeed extremely fortuitous. This homeless man benefited from a combination of circumstances to land himself a huge Christmas present."
 
After taking the sacks of cash he then disappears and police have been unable to track him down.
 
The bag he left behind has not revealed his identity.
 
Police, who know the suspect as one of up to 100 rough sleepers in the area, have been searching the usual airport spots where homeless people are known to hang out but he is yet to reappear.
 
But with €300,000 in cash on him, perhaps police would be better popping into some of the capitals luxury hotels or perhaps he booked himself on the next flight out of Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
 
Loomis have so far been unable to explain why the door was left open.
 
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