French Thieves Give a Christmas Gift to the Police

Five masked thieves who robbed a delivery center in southeastern France on Dec. 22 were disappointed to open what they thought were boxes of luxury goods and find something very different inside: armbands for the French police.

So instead of holding on to them, the thieves played Santa Claus for the very people hoping to arrest them and quietly delivered the six packages to a police station on Christmas Eve.

According to French newspaper Dauphine Libere, they also taped a light-hearted note to the packages: “An unexpected windfall, luxury clothing targeted without weapons or violence. Happy holidays to all,” it read.

French prosecutor Matthiew Bourrette, who spoke to the French press about the incident Tuesday, stressed that the robbers didn’t end up completely empty-handed. Although they chose to return the armbands, they still made off with expensive Louis Vuitton products. And even though they were literally right outside a police station when they dropped off the armbands, the thieves still haven’t been caught.

PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images