Germany's Daftest Ticket-Nabber

It was a warm Sunday afternoon in the prosperous Bavarian city of Munich and the smell of soccer was thick in the air. A woman was walking down the street in the direction of the stadium. Reigning world champion Brazil was about to crush Australia 2-0 when a man slipped through the crowd and silently snatched her purse.

She probably screamed. Perhaps she even cried, thinking of the irreplaceables she had stowed in her handbag for safekeeping. But her tears would soon dry.

The magic ticket

Neither lipstick nor tissues, neither cash nor even credit cards were the highlight of the loot. No, it was a ticket to the Brazil-Australia game that was about to start. She had, after all, been on her way to the stadium with practically everyone else in Munich that day.

Blending back into the crowd, the thief proceeded to prove his idiocy for the second time that afternoon (the first time being the theft itself): he set off for the stadium, entered with the pilfered ticket, and got comfortable in the poor woman's seat.

Game over

If only it hadn't slipped his mind that his victim wasn't going to the game alone. The seat he took happened to be right next to his purse-less prey's husband. Before he knew it, the police had been alerted by his neighboring spectator and the game was over -- for the thief, that is.

The purse-grabber-cum-ticket-nabber wasn't the only individual arrested at Sunday's game, but he was certainly the daftest, or at least the most audacious, of the 51 people who found themselves in police custody.

The thief's day was as much of an emotional rollercoaster as the Australians', who both came out with nil in the end. Maybe someone should tell the guy that stealing isn't for the stupid.