Man charged with stealing figurines leaves detention and steals another one

It all started on Thursday (September 16) at night, when railroad police officers noticed two abandoned bags at a platform at Zamość railway station. It turned out that inside the bags there was a phone, power tools and two bronze sculptures of a dwarf and a lizard.

City police officers who arrived at the scene recognised the figurines as those missing from Zamość Old Town. They secured the luggage and left. But shortly after they returned to the station, because a man showed up there looking for the bags he had left earlier.

The owner of the bags turned out to be a 51-year-old resident of Lublin. The man was drunk. He was detained and charged with theft. The 51-year-old was released from police custody on Saturday evening.

Several hours later, on Sunday, the police were notified about another missing sculpture. This time, the thief took a bronze figurine of a lizard, which had stood on the window sill right next to the one stolen before.

"Suspecting that the theft could have been done by the same man, the duty officer immediately relayed the information to patrols," Dorota Krukowska-Bubiło of Zamość City Police said.

A few minutes later, the 51-year-old was once again in the hands of the police. He had a travel bag with him, and in it - the stolen figurine of a lizard. Its value has been estimated at 2,500 zlotys.

"The officers investigating the case found out the man had also broken into a refrigerator in a restaurant garden at the Old Town in Zamość. He took dozens of beer bottles, as well as cutlery and wooden baskets from a restaurant cupboard. The owner of the restaurant estimated the losses at over 800 zlotys," the police officer added.

During the arrest, the man was drunk again. His blood alcohol content was at 0,15%. He was once more taken to a police custody centre.

On Tuesday (September 21), the 51-year-old man was brought to a Regional Prosecutor's Office in Zamość, where he was charged with stealing the figurine, and breaking into the restaurant's refrigerator.

Additionally, the police have found other person's documents in his luggage. They belong to a resident of Lublin.

"It turned out the man had stolen them in early September from a restaurant in Lublin, for which he will also face the court," Krukowska-Bubiło said.

The 51-year-old has been arrested for three months. For theft with breaking and entering he will be facing up to 10 years in prison.