Ever been the victim of a crime?

[The Enigma]

During a holiday we were stolen from a handbag containing our ID's and
credit cards.

That bag was left in the (locked) car for about 10 minutes, while we were
enjoying some spectacular viewpoints at the side of the road.

My wife was looking at a viewpoint just some meters away from were I
was.

When I returned to my car, there was a guy standing next to the car.
He looked at me and said: Are you looking for your wife?

Yes, I replied and he pointed to the second viewpoint and said, she went
that way.

I thanked him and went to her.
After having enjoyed the view we continued our journey.
A kilometer or so from the viewpoints, my wife wondered were the handbag was.

I stopped and we searched the car. The bag was missing.
I turned the car and we went back to the parking were we had stopped just
before.

There we asked several people if they had seen a bag.
Nope they replied. A lady who was selling some touristic gadgets at those
viewpoints told us that we must have been robbed while being away from the
car.

She advised us to go to the police and to take a look in the nearby forest.
Many people get robbed here she said. It's a gang who is specialized in
robbing tourists at these viewpoints.
They take out all the money they may find in the bag and throw away what
they can't use in the nearby forest.

I went to that forest and there I found several belongings from people, like maps,
films, lipsticks, keys and so on. Even empty bags.

Our bag wasn't there.

We went the police were I described to guy who was being friendly to me
while returning to the car.
The police recognized the man immediately.
We know him, he is one of the gang.

He is suspected to actually brake into the car and take out whatever he can
find.
You must have been surprising him, said the police, by returning to your car
so soon, but he was smart enough to fool you.

Since then, we never ever leave anything behind in our car. Not even for five
minutes or so.