Italy: Thieves Use Drugs to Rob Tourists

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | 1 comment | May 28th, 2008 | Trackback

Thieves on Italian trains are increasingly using drugs to sedate victims before making off with their possessions. One method they use is to board sleeper trains and spray a narcotic into cabins before helping themselves to luggage. In a related incident, an elderly American tourist on his way to Hungary after a Mediterranean cruise with his wife was killed at Rome’s Tiburtina train station when he stumbled in front of an express train after drinking a drugged cappuccino. The couple decided to spend the night in the station’s waiting room before catching a morning bus to Hungary because they didn’t want to risk the streets of Rome, a city they didn’t know. When several rough characters began arguing around midnight a middle-aged man reassured the couple and offered each a cappuccino. In the morning they awoke from their drugged sleep to find all their possessions gone. The husband went to look for the police but, still drugged, wandered onto the tracks where he was killed. Police later arrested the middle-aged man when the victim’s wife was able to identify him on video from a security camera.

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