We’ve all seen films about elaborately planned robberies, such as The Italian Job and The Thomas Crown Affair. But if a producer ever wanted to script the least well-planned heist of recent times, he might find inspiration in the city of Chongqing. Earlier this month one of the most bungled thefts WiC has come across came to light. The robber was an individual with the surname Chen who flagged down a car on the Zhanxi Road. He obviously looked harmless enough, as the driver, Cao Feng agreed to give him a lift to the remote Geleshan area. According to the Chongqing Economic Times, he then produced a knife and hijacked the car – telling Cao to run for his life. The problem? The thief couldn’t drive. After slamming his foot on the throttle, he succeeded in steering the car off the road and damaging it to such an extent that it wouldn’t restart. Chen then abandoned the vehicle, and spent the next four hours wandering in the mountains, getting lost in a storm. In the piece-de-resistance of his cocked-up crime, Chen then called emergency services on his mobile and asked to be rescued. The bedraggled felon was subsequently arrested by the police, and confessed to his attempted robbery.
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