STOLEN MARKS.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 December 1920, Page 1

STOLEN MARKS.

PARIS, Oct. l(i. “We did no one anv harm, as we did not roll the poor, hut only the State.” is the defence put forward by two brothers and their two women friends now under arrest- charged with the theft' of 1,400,000 marks from the Army General Treasury in September last year.

The theft has on]y just been discovered. While sacks containing about 1,000,000,000 marks from the liberated regions and Alsace-Lorraine and from repatriated prisoners were being transferred to a new building, a man. named Albert Grandin, left on guard at the new premises, carried several sacks away with the help of his brother and the two women now under arrest with him.

As they had been exchanged at face value, the. marks were worth 1,750,000 francs (£70,000). A few at a time the stolen marks were slowly exchanged for francs, but the thieves-lost heavily on these deals, because, it is said, the exchange' agents were , suspicious, and when no explanation of the money’s origin was given, they concluded it must have been stolen. The four sank their spoil in the purchase of a large villa, and it is said, of a small music-hall at Champigny, near Paris. Further revelations in connection with this robbery are expected.