ROBBER’S CAVE SURPRISE.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1922, Page 11

ROBBER’S CAVE SURPRISE.

TWO MANSIONS FULL OF STOLEN (BOOTY. . „ _ \ After a hunt which has lasted for four years, the chiefs of what must •be the world’s champion gang of shoplifters have been tracked down and arrested, says the Berlin correspondent of the Daily Chronicle. Thus a load of anxiety has been lifted from the minds of the proprietors of the largest and most fashionable shops in Berlin, -for there is not one of these establishments that this mysterious band of pests has not robbed to the extent of at least a million marks. Time and again Berlin's most exclusive shops—jewellers, modistes, ar j china dealers, furriers, etc.—would discover that valuable goods had disappeared in some mysterious way, |in spite of the utmost precautions. Things like fur jackets, dinner services, large ornamented vases, crystal dishes and carpets vanished as if by magic, and even the presence of detectives on the premises day and night did not stop the gigantic thefts. For years this nightmare state of affairs continued. Then a little thing happened in a high-class perfumery shop. Two very stylishly-dressed ladies appeared looking for Christmas presents. A shop assistant thought she saw one of them put a bottle of perfume into her pocket, and thereupon charged the lady with shoplifting. This was indignantly denied. They were, the lady asserted, wealthy persons living in the West End. Why should they steal? They could buy up the shop if they liked. The gave their addresses, and were so loud in their protests that the proprietor eventually apologised for the allegation of his assistant. Next day two young men came to the shop, and, representing themselves as the husbands of the two ladies who were there the previous day, demanded a fuller apology under threat of an action for libel. The proprietor could do nothing, but be still more apologetic, -but it struck him that the men were very young to be the husbands of the visitors of the previous day, and, casually meeting a police official that evening, told him the story. When the official took the matter up he found that while one of the men hgxl described himself correctly, the other had not. That led to all four being put under observation, and a raid 1 on their two fashionable West End houses followed. As a result, seven persons—five women and two men, including the four persons who visited the shop—were arrested, and many others will doubtless be laid by the heels, for the gang must be a very large one. A wealth of stolen property almost beyond description was found in the houses, and the value is calculated at 10.000,000 marks. The rooms were veritable robbers’ caves, containing every conceivable kind of ill-gotten valuables. Stolen goods from fifteen of the bestknown Berlin establishments were identified—ornaments, tea and dinner services, furs, carpets, perfumes, jewellery, the most exclusive gowns, boots and shoes—in short, everything except heavy furniture. The chief of the/gang is a twice divorced woman of Dutch origin, Frau Dora Roeber. It appears that the stolen goods were deposited at two houses, and when a fair quantity had been amassed they were smuggled to Holland and sold. But what expert shoplifters the women must have been! Two of them managed on one occasion to “lift” and get away with a coffee service of 32 pieces. Another find was a valuable dinner service of 178 pieces. Two of the gang visited the shop from which it was stolen on four consecutive days, taking away between 40 and 50 pieces on each occasion. Men must have done some of the heaviest lifting, such as carpet stealing, but it seems the women were the most active and cleverest members of the gang. They disarmed suspicion by appearing in the shops most fashionably dressed and making a great display of their wealth. They aroused the suspicions of the West End police some time ago, but the matter was smoothed over by bribery, and the gang’s career continued. It is estimated that the value of the goods which passed through their hands must have been at least 100,000,000 marks.