Toilet thief

AN ingenious thief swiped €172,000 on a flight in the Caribbean after sneaking into the cash-laden cargo hold via the toilet.

A Brink’s security employee placed three sacks of cash containing a total €1.2 million in the hold of the Air Antilles plane before it headed from the French island of Guadeloupe to the Franco-Dutch island of Saint Martin.

When the flight landed 40 minutes later it was discovered €172,000 was missing from the sacks.

Police are seeking a man who complained he felt ill and spent most of the journey in the toilet. In fact, he was removing panels to gain access to the hold in the rear of the plane.

Shortly before landing, the unnamed man asked a hostess for an ambulance to meet him on the tarmac, witnesses said.

When the ambulance arrived, the man said he felt suddenly better and walked out of the airport without having to go through the normal security checks and disappeared, police said.