A fast-acting Belgian shopowner made international news in October 2018 after he successfully thwarted an attempted robbery when he told the would-be thieves that he would have more money for them if they came back at the end of the business day. Little did the gullible thieves know that there would be more than extra cash waiting for them upon their return.
The owner of the small electronic cigarette store, identified simply as ‘Didier’ by RTL (via CNN International), told the French news service that a group of six robbers walked into his store late one afternoon demanding that he empty the cash register and hand it over.
“I told them clearly that 3 p.m. is not the best time to hold up a store,” Didier told RTL. “You’ll take 1,000 bucks, but if you come back tonight you might be able to take more.”
Didier told the group to leave and come back when the store closed at 6:30 p.m. if they wanted to get the largest amount of cash. And they did just that.
Didier was surprised that the group of robbers were dim enough to fall for his lie, and the shop owner quickly contacted local authorities to put his plan into action. Although Didier was sure that the robbers would come back, the police weren’t as optimistic.
However, the police decided to err on the side of caution and told the shop owner that they would return shortly before the shop closed at 6:30 p.m.
But the plan almost fell apart entirely when the group came back to the store an hour earlier than previously agreed. With the cops still not at the scene, the consistently quick-witted Didier was able to convince the robbers to leave and come back a THIRD time in order to get their cash.
“I berated them saying ‘you have to buy a watch.’ I said, ‘It’s 5:30, not 6:30,’ and they left,” he said.
The group finally returned for the third and final time at 6:30 p.m. where plainclothes officers were waiting to apprehend the six robbers. When the cops attempted to detain the six suspects, they broke out into a chase, and ultimately arrested five of the gullible robbers. A sixth suspect was able to evade arrest.
“It’s like it was a comedy,” Didier told the BBC. “They’re being called the worst robbers in Belgium.”
Forget the worst robbers in Belgium, it’s no stretch to say these guys are the worst robbers in the world.