WHOLESALE PLUNDERING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 1, 3 January 1922, Page 5

WHOLESALE PLUNDERING.

"BAFFLES' IN GERMANY. { WOMAN "LEADS GANG OF I THIEVES. £50,000 WOETH OF LOOT. (Peceiverl n.::n n ra.i BERLIN, January _. Tlie most sensational "Raffles" case in the history of German crime has resulted in the arrest of live -women and two men who were caught -with -00.000 worth of stolen goods. The leader, a woman called "Hashing Dorn." has been twice divorced, and recently married a youth of _U. Those arrested include Dora's husband and sister, and also Dora's daughter Louise, and Morvilius. a merchant. Morviliiis' wife and Louise's husband are ulso implicated, but have not yet been arrested. He is a wcll-knovm official and a director of the department engaged in the sale of German svar material.

The booty of the gang included a golden coffee set of :t_ pieces, valued at -1500. which was carried off from a shop in a single visit. The women went equipped svith leather belts lifted svith innumerable hooks, to which they attached valuables as they passed through the shops. Finally Dora and her sister fell under the suspicion of a salesgirl in a luxury sliof]. but managed to bluff the manager. Next day their husbands flashed thou-sand-mark notes in the manager's face and forced him fo give a written apology. Tlie manager, later, was struck svith ihe youth of the husband? as compared svith their wives, and telephoned ihe police. Their flats svere raided, svhen piles' of china, jesvels. and other valuable? svere found.

Investigations showed that the depredations extended for years. The thefts totalled £2..0.000 in value. The crimes were possible owing to the wholesale corruption of the police.—(A. and -LZ.I