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Contortionist Hides in Suitcase to Steal from Travelers' Luggage

By Cynthia Hsu, Esq. on June 10, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

How far would you go for a theft? Would you squeeze yourself into a suitcase? One contortionist thief would, in an elaborate two-person suitcase theft scheme aboard an airport bus in Barcelona.

Sometimes, when a friend goes on a trip that we wish we could go on, we jokingly say that we wish we could hide in their suitcase. Well, these two men certainly brought a whole new dimension to "hiding in a suitcase."

The two men, identified as Krzysztof Grzegorz and Jouoastaw K, are both Polish nationals, reports AOL News.

How did this suitcase theft scheme work? Apparently, one man was loaded into a suitcase. The man in the suitcase was equipped with a tool he could use to open bags and locks, a headlamp, as well as another smaller bag and a cell phone, reports BBC News.

The man in the suitcase was then loaded into the cargo area of the airport transit bus. When the bus started moving, he would emerge from the suitcase, rote around the cargo hold and find valuables - which he would then stuff into the smaller bag that was brought on board, according to BBC News.

El Periodico, a Spanish language news source, produced a great diagram of the events - even helpful for those who don't speak Spanish.

Their mastermind scheme was foiled when an employee noticed that one of the men was having trouble loading a suspiciously heavy suitcase into the bus, reports BBC News. Police officers noticed that the bag was warm, opened the bag, and the sweaty burglar was found inside.

So, doubling yourself up into a suitcase - like a contortionist thief - is probably not the most comfortable way to pull off a scheme. And, the suitcase theft may not even have been that successful, as police were still investigating as to whether or not the two thieves had ever stolen from other buses before, reports AOL News.

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