A jewellery thief in Turkey has gone viral after ramming a store with a forklift before escaping on a donkey in a bizarre getaway.
On February 10, a thief in central Turkey pulled off one of the most unexpected jewellery heists of the year, smashing into a store with a forklift and grabbing about 150 grams of gold before fleeing the scene on a donkey waiting outside.
According to The Independent, police later identified the suspect using CCTV footage and managed to track him down. Following the arrest, officers managed to recover the stolen gold and returned it to the shop owner.
Donkey getaway heist goes viral
Security footage shows the man driving the forklift directly into the storefront, which he then uses to forcibly pry open the shutters. Once inside, the man tips over a nearby jewellery cabinet and loots its contents before clambering atop a donkey to flee from the scene.
Local Turkish media reported the incident took place in the Melikgazi district during the early hours of the morning. Authorities later discovered the suspect had buried the stolen gold following the robbery before officers uncovered it during their investigation.
While the forklift and donkey escape sounds like something straight out of Red Dead Redemption 2, it joins a long line of bizarre thefts.
From truckloads of stolen salsa dips and a Santa-led grocery raid to criminals swiping $100,000 worth of escargot from a French farm, some real-world crimes prove stranger than fiction.
