Thanks, but no thanks!
A pair of discriminating thieves in Italy stole a watch from a Swiss tourist, only to return the watch moments later after realizing it was a cheap counterfeit.
Footage shows two tourists having a drink just before midnight on July 17 in the bustling Piazza Trieste e Trento in Naples, where an assailant accosted them at gunpoint and demanded that one of them hand over his show.
A few minutes later, another man appears, returns the stolen watch to its surprised owner and apologizes to him, as the footage shows.
The astonishing exchange took place at the Monidee Café, where the owner said he believed the daring thief returned the watch because it was not worth it, as it was not a Richard Mille manufacture. Swiss, CNN reported.
“They brought it back saying, ‘Sorry, sorry,’ maybe in an attempt to get him not to report it,” co-owner Antonio Visconti told the network.
Would-be thieves thought the man’s watch was worth $307,000, according to Francesco Emilio Borrelli, Campania region councilor for the Europa Verde party.
The plaza where the heist took place has long been plagued by crime and has recently become a place where people park illegally after dark, Borrelli said.
“I’ve been reporting issues in this plaza for a while, but there’s no oversight,” he told CNN. “It’s one of the least safe neighborhoods in the city, and it should be one of the safest.”
Crowds of “young delinquents on scooters” make life miserable for residents and tourists – and make no effort to disguise their identities, Borrelli said.
“They don’t care,” he continued. “They use a gun at 13, 14 – the guy who did this knew how to use it, he even pointed it at the head of the Swiss tourist.”
Shameless thieves steal watches to resell them “right away,” but someone realized the latest score was an ersatz, Borrelli said.
“So, knowing the law, they sent another child to return it,” he said. “Because they know the bars there have CCTV and they know footage has been recorded. And under the law, bringing the watch back means a much lighter sentence. Because they committed the theft, but they took the property back.
Visconti said the incident was ‘bad publicity’ for Napoli.
“For years we’ve been saying the same things – we need a social pact, we need to restart our industry,” he told CNN. “We are not used to this kind of violence, but we are attacked every day. We are waging a war against this stuff, but we are alone.
The targeted tourist, meanwhile, finished his drink and didn’t seem too shaken by the chilling experience.
“He said, ‘What a great adventure,'” Visconti recalls.