[Leica] Stolen SL system, in Iceland

[Douglas Barry]

Sorry to hear about that sad and annoying loss, Ken. I hope you get the 
Leica back, and have some sort of back up camera for the rest of your 
holiday. We were targeted by a gang of six pickpockets on the metro in 
Barcelona a few months ago, but were lucky as I was expecting some sort 
of thievery, and I got my wallet back.

I would have thought that the car hire company would have given you some 
warning about that sort of thing being a possibility in Iceland which 
has so many tourists. Was the hire car a Dacia Duster?
https://www.icelandreview.com/news/robber-targeted-dacia-dusters/

Douglas




On 27/12/2018 17:09, Ken Iisaka wrote:
> Well, that was fast.
>
> It was just a month ago that I got a Leica for the first time in my hands
> in years, after losing everything and more in a divorce.
>
> I was visiting Skógafoss waterfalls in Iceland today. After returning to
> the car, putting the camera in the bag in the back seat, we were approached
> by a young woman perhaps 25-30 years old, with long wavy brown hair, with
> light brown skin, who spoke with a thick non-Slavic Eastern European
> accent, from the passenger side.
>
> She appeared to be pointing out to something about our rental car. I got
> out of the car to look at what she was trying to say, sounding like she was
> saying that there was something wrong with the car and it was dangerous.
>
> The one minute interaction with her created an opportunity for her
> accomplice to take the bag from the back seat, even with my girlfriend in
> the car.
>
> I did not notice the loss until our next stop a half an hour later, but
> lost in the black Billingham Hadley Pro bag were:
>
> SL 4964347
> Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90 4527732
> Summilux-SL 50 4642333
>
> Of course, the worst loss was the images I had taken today. The waterfalls
> were tremendous, and the images are lost.
>
> Compared to the losses I suffered to my ex and her attorney, the financial
> value is nothing. However, this was quite a shock to experience this in
> Iceland of all places. Clearly, the woman was not local, and probably works
> the tourist spots in the area. When I went to the police station to report
> the crime, I was told that there had been a series of car break-ins and
> thefts during this Christmas holiday season.
>
> Beware, all.
>