Two men and a woman who used an ordinary cardboard box to break into over 200 Toronto area fast-food joints were caught by lucky timing, police said on Friday.
The trio arrived at their target with an oversized cardboard box, which they propped up against the restaurant's front door. One person hid in the box and used specialised tools to break into the restaurant, while the others stood guard with a police scanner and two-way radios.
"They were able to, by experience, literally remove the glass from the pane of the door and then set the glass aside," said Detective Sergeant Reuben Strober of Toronto Police, adding that the burglars managed to disable most alarm systems at the same time.
Even if the alarms were triggered, the suspects got away before police arrived. Over the course of their crime spree, they made off with some $260,000, police said. Strobel said the three were finally caught after police responded to an unrelated call in the neighbourhood.
They face 355 charges.
WE57 HAM licence plate fetches record price
Fans of east London soccer club West Ham set a new record price of £57,000 for a soccer-related vehicle licence plate on Friday as they outbid each other for plate number WE57 HAM.
The price dwarfed the previous record of £36,000 set in 2004 for plate number AR53 NAL (Arsenal).
"The atmosphere in the auction room was electric - it was like a cup final," said Damian Lawson, marketing manager for Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Personalised Registrations.
"The fans bidding showed the same passion they do on the terraces and we could only watch as the price kept on rising and rising," he added.
The winner bid anonymously over the Internet.
Minks on the run
Twenty German soldiers were deployed on Friday to help recapture around 17,000 minks on the run.
The animals had been let out from a mink farm into the eastern German countryside by unknown perpetrators, according to police in Stendal, 90 km west of Berlin.
Local officials and mink farm employees also spent the day trying to trap the animals at large.
"So many minks escaped, I have no idea how many they'll catch," police spokesman Joachim Albrecht said.
Authorities suspect the minks - small mammals whose fur is used for making expensive coats and accessories - had been let out by animal rights activists, he said.
Suspect Rembrandt turns star
An oil portrait dismissed for years as a copy of a Rembrandt and priced at just £1,000 has sold for £2.5 million after frantic bidding in a West England saleroom.
"To say the least, the owner is a very happy man today," Philip Allwood of auctioneers Moore, Allen and Innocent said by telephone from Cirencester.
"I managed to get in contact with him this morning. He is very interested in finding out how and when he will get the money," he added.
The painting, which hung for decades in a private house in Gloucestershire, is titled The Young Rembrandt as Democrates the Laughing Philosopher and signed H.L. Rembrandt.
"When I first saw the painting in the house, I said that must be the real thing. But he (the owner) said his father had had it checked out and it was just a copy," Allwood said.
"I had it sitting in my office for weeks, gradually getting more convinced it was authentic. So I sent photographs and my description of it to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. They replied that they too thought it was a copy," he added.
Reluctantly Allwood put the painting into Friday's auction, with a guide price of between £1,000 and £1,500. But he also put it on the front cover of the auction catalogue and sent copies to all the main dealers, just in case.
On the day, droves of London dealers descended on the saleroom and others entered the bidding fray by telephone.
Major military brain damage study
Britain's Ministry of Defence has launched a major inquiry into brain injuries suffered by troops caught near explosions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) include loss of memory, mood swings and depression. They can last from a matter of hours to up to three months.
The condition, which has no external physical manifestations, is caused by the high velocity shockwaves from roadside bombs which jar the brain.
At its simplest, it is similar to a concussion. But at its worst it can be completely debilitating.
"We are doing a lot of work on it. We are working closely with the Americans," a MoD spokesman said. "This has been going on for several years. The new bit is the self-assessment questionnaire we are sending to all troops in theatre."
"This is a very, very complex area. But we are doing a lot of research," he added. "A special project has been set up to look into improving understanding of the condition and diagnosis and treatment."