French thieves pose as Gulf tourists to steal hotel room safes
Two men have been arrested for stealing safes from hotel rooms while posing as wealthy Gulf tourists in France.
According to the BBC, the thieves allegedly pretended to reception staff that they were guests who had lost their keys.
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They would then use a stethoscope to listen at the door of the hotel room to check nobody was in there, before using a hammer and a chisel to remove the safes and carry them out in a suitcase.
Upmarket hotels were targeted from Paris down to Monaco in the French Riviera.
The National reports that the men, aged 56 and 31, were arrested on 24 August at a hotel in Saint-Etienne.
Police have reportedly recovered €80,000 (£58,000) worth of clothes, jewellery, and currency, mostly from Gulf countries.
The news comes just a couple of weeks after it was reported that Formula 1 driver Jenson Button and his wife were gassed by robbers who then waited until they were unconscious before stealing jewellery and other items worth around £300,000 from their holiday home in St Tropez, France.
Police told the star they believe burglars gassed the house through the air conditioning vents.
A source told the Independent: "Over the past five years, it's becoming an increasingly common way for top criminals to launch raids on expensive properties in the area without being disturbed."
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