Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2014; the escape it reports was news at that time, and the case of the Argentine mannequin thief it describes as recent dates from 2012.
Criminals sharpen their wits too. Not long ago we heard about a thief in Argentina who, when he was caught by surprise by the police, pretended to be a mannequin to avoid arrest. This time, a prisoner in Chile has escaped from jail disguised as an armchair, getting through every one of the prison’s security checks. Mortadelo, the master of disguise from the classic Spanish comic strip, has clearly found a disciple.
According to a newspaper in El Salvador, the prisoner prepared his escape by following a strict diet so he could lose enough weight to hide inside the armchair without raising suspicion. The armchair itself was made in the prison, and so it was built with great care to make room for him inside.
Until the day the armchair was due to be moved out, the prisoner had nothing but one glass of milk a day.
Both the thief disguised as a mannequin and the armchair “escape artist” have since been caught.
Featured image: Tim Evanson from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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