A rags-to-riches fairy tale story suddenly came true in France as Christmas is looming. In a Parisian suburb of Roissy in Val-d'Oise a homeless man suddenly received a present he could hardly ever dream of. Just over a week ago on late Friday a local clochard used an odd chance to nick two bags with a total of over 300,000 thousand euros from the premises of the Loomis CIT, a French security company operating at the Terminal 2F at the Roissy airport.
The Leparisien reported he was described as a local homeless man in his fifties, the perpetrator benefited from a unique combination of circumstances to afford himself a generous Christmas present.
Blurred CCTV footage later gave an idea of what exactly happened that night.
Theft by chance encounter with open door
At around 17:20 a man of European appearance, looking about fifty years old, was going around the dustbins. He leaned on the door of the security company and was visibly surprised when it suddenly opened. He then put his suitcase on the floor and entered the premises.
A few minutes later, he emerged carrying two large bags filled with banknotes. Leaving his suitcase behind at the scene, the middle-aged man then swiftly accelerated his pace and headed towards a road devoid of surveillance cameras. Meanwhile, at the company's delivery docks at Terminal 2 F, the alarm was triggered by the intrusion and the on-site manager together with FAP (French Border Police) officers promptly arrived on the scene.
They instantly noticed that the door was open.
Opportunistic thief used only chance but no weapons, break-in tools or violence
Border police investigators supported by colleagues from the Seine-Saint-Denis judicial police department who are in charge of the investigation have subsequently found a number of traces and clues at the scene of the robbery.
Roissy Loomis not only collects money from numerous shops in the area and supplies ATMs with cash but also carries out logistics missions in the airport to ensure the safety of goods shipped by air. It remains unclear how a door to its premises, which is supposed to be securely locked when unattended, could be left apparently open to enable such a seemingly easy intrusion.
The company was unable to comment on the issue when contacted by journalists a few days later. The investigation continues to find the perpetrator, who still remains on the large. His suitcase seen left on the scene in CCTV footage was later found and thoroughly examined.
But the luggage did not produce any significant clues as it was empty when recovered by the police. The only track the investigators could exploit is the identity of the opportunist thief. The man is said to be known to have hung around the area in the preceding weeks. There are between fifty and a hundred homeless people just like him living in and around the airport, and who make their living by searching the dustbins.
As the suspect has not been spotted since one of his fellow clochards was quoted by Le Parisien as saying "I am not sure that these days he would ever resort to going through the garbage anymore"
