Is that all you've got? Robber throws money back at cashier as it wasn't enough

Is that all you've got? Robber throws money back at cashier as it wasn't enough
Illustration image. Credit: Belga/Loan Silvestre

An armed man, 39, who robbed a pharmacy in the Brussels municipality of Etterbeek was so disappointed with his loot that he threw the money back on the counter and fled. Later that same day, he was arrested.

On 26 April, the police of the Montgomery zone (Etterbeek, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre) were called to an armed robbery in a pharmacy in Etterbeek, they announced in a press release.

"A man was said to have threatened the pharmacist, his colleague and a customer with a handgun, and demanded that the contents of the cash register be handed over to him," a police spokesperson said.

However, as the sum handed to him by the pharmacist seemed insufficient, the man threw the money back on the counter and fled.

Carrying a fake gun

Police officers were soon able to obtain a fairly accurate description of the man and started searching immediately. A few minutes later, colleagues from the Etterbeek police station, who were patrolling the area and acting as reinforcements, noticed a man matching the description of the person, 500 metres from the scene.

"When the man saw the officers, he pulled out a black pistol and laid it on the ground, shouting that it was a fake weapon – which turned out to be true," the spokesperson added.

Very soon afterwards, the officers learned that a similar event had taken place half an hour earlier in the neighbouring municipality of Ixelles, in another pharmacy, by an offender matching the description. The man gave a full confession.

He is well-known to the police, and only left prison a few months earlier. He was handed over to the Public Prosecutor, and will have to appear before the Brussels Criminal Court on 20 May.


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