NAPOLEON OF CROOKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 April 1921, Page 8

NAPOLEON OF CROOKS.

SOUGHT BY 7 ARMY OF DETECTIVES. There is a small b,ut exceedingly clever detective force entirely unconnected with the police, which i«s waging perpetual warfare against a gang of thieves who seem to specialise in raids on jewellers’ establishments and railways. Quite recently it was discovered that a man who had cleverly removed a valuable diamond from a ring he had had on approval and substituted a worthless stone had a few days earlier stolen the contents of a railway .wagon. By manipulating the labels yuid dispatching “fake l ” telegrams * lie had caused the wagon to be diverted from its course to a lonely siding where confederates were waiting with two motor lorries.

But he was caught by one, of the members of this band of detectives, who are employed by insurance companies. How necessary such a force is (remarks the Paris correspondent of the Daily Mirror) may be known from the fact that, during the year that has just closed the underwriters have sustained a loss of 60 per cent, over premiums received!

Recently one of the detectives tracked one of the cleverest jewel thieves on the Continent from Paris to the Riviera, across into Italy, back into France, and away into Germany, finally causing his arrest in Berlin. The detective could have laid him by the heels at any one of his stopping places, for he left behind him a trail of victimised jewellers. But the detective was not in a hurry. When he made his pounce he had caught four other confederates in his net. From the moment he set out after his quarry he •was* confident that there would be a meeting with other members of a gang, and it was for this that he had waited.

Twelve months ago another detective set out in search of a package of jewels, that had been sent from Rome to India, but had not reached its destination. As the result of his inquiries he came to the conclusion that the jewels were still in Italy, and wore only mislaid. By cajojpry and ‘threats he got the postal authorities to move in the matter A general order was issued to the vari- i ous districts through which the package should! have passed, and at last the package arrived in India, Bpt fpr the perseverance of the detective the parcel would i|i all probability still be hidden away on the shelf of some small post office, while the company that employs him would be the poorer by many thousands of pounds. parelesspess costs insurance companies ghpost as inuch a fraufi.

Sypyy day women are making claims for rings or bracelet . that have been mislaid.

Not long ago a woman walked into t)ie offices of an insurance company and i.odged a claim for £15,000 for a rope of pearls that ha.d disappeared. She hafi no idea what had happened to ip She might have mislaid it. As a matter of fact, she had. If was found a few days later in a sumpjpr beneath g heap of pewspapprs.

But jt is the clevpr gaqg of Continental thieves who giyp insurance companies most trouble. Between them and the detectives is waged a constant battle of>wits. At the head of this gang of thieves is the master mind. So far he has eluded the detectives, though his ban,(J hps been thinned during the last tw'piy.e

His work consist? in organising the big coups. TJis band jseeji pyery tiipe big theft occurs.