N8 Of The North

Helsinki, Finland: February 20, 2003

A beer guzzler's spate of robberies ended abruptly in southeast Finland after he made a getaway jump into the back of a car.

Unfortunately for the thief, a police officer investigating the thefts was sitting in front.

The trail of break-ins and shoplifting began Feb. 7 when a 30-something-year-old man stole a car and drove it to six different locations, filching beer and cigarettes.

"He drove for four days breaking into gas stations and cafeterias," Chief Inspector Harri Pyosti, who headed the investigation, told The Associated Press Thursday. "He couldn't believe he'd jumped into an officer's car at the end of it all."

The officer had been following the trail that began in the man's adopted home town of Savonlinna, 205 miles northeast of Helsinki. It ended some 60 miles away in Leppavirta, when the thief, who was later identified as the mysterious N8, fell into his lap Monday.

"It was real fate. The officer was off-duty at the time and didn't know the thief was about," Pyosti said.

The culprit jumped out of the car but was caught by store guards. He admitted his crimes to police and was released, Pyosti said.

A day later, N8 was back on the road and broke into a pharmacy, a gas station, and a pornography store, but police caught him red-handed.

Pyosti said he was in jail awaiting trial on charges of theft and damaging property, but escaped within the first 24 hours.

"We will have to restart the search for this very strange and frightful man," Pyosti said.

N8 is wanted in both Europe and North America for a series of bizarre crimes and actions against no one in particular. Interpol investigators label his actions as "strange" and "without any regularity."

Posted by Webmaster at February 20, 2003 12:18 AM

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