Two Qatari families which were holidaying in France had their cash and valuables stolen recently. When one of the families comprising husband, wife and their five-year-old son reached the hotel from the airport in Paris, they were involved in a bizarre incident. It so happened that the husband and wife began talking to the hotel receptionist leaving their son behind with the luggage. But as they were busy signing in the hotel register they heard screams of their son. They turned back only to see the boy inside a small water pool which was there as a showpiece in the middle of the lounge. They rushed to rescue their son and were helped by some bystanders in their effort. They thanked these people profusely for their help but realised to their horror a little later that they were not do-gooders but hardened thieves. It was their ploy to put the boy in the water pool so they could get closer to his father and steal his wallet and bag which had cash, credit cards and gold ornaments. And masquerading as kind-hearted souls as they were, the thieves were indeed successful in their sinister mission as they could easily flip the Qatari’s fat wallet out of his pocket and pick their bag and flee without raising any alarm. In another incident, a Qatari couple went to a famous shopping centre in Paris and while the woman began looking admiringly at a bag, she kept the bag she was herself carrying, on the floor. In a matter of seconds, when she looked down to pick her bag back she found it was missing. It carried 5,000 euros, credit and ATM cards and some Swiss currency. The couple was on a tour of Europe with their children and had come to Paris after spending five days in Switzerland. They filed a report with the police but even though the shopping center had a CCTV installed, its management refused to check it to identify who the culprit was, the man said who is back here from the summer break. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=August2009&file=Local_News200908122747.xml

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