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Last Updated on August 8, 2016 by PixelPluck
Photography Gear Worth $40000 Stolen at Rio Olympics.
At Rio Olympics it’s not only Usain Bolt who would be clocking under 10 seconds. In what has emerged as a heartbreaking story from Rio Olympics in Brazil, a News Corp Photographer has been robbed by a woman and her friends in under 10 seconds of all his photography gear worth over $40,000.
What comes as a surprise is that the incident took place in broad daylight inside a crowded coffee shop. News Corp photographer Brett Costello was having coffee at a shop when a woman came to him asking for some help. While she was distracting Brett, another friend of that woman took a camera bag with gears worth over $40,000 to a getaway car and left the place in a matter of 10 seconds. Brett was still in conversation with the woman.
As Costello comes racing out and also turns right, the accomplice stands in his way and points the Daily Telegraph photographer to the left. The Fake Samaritan trick sends Costello up the wrong way and the three criminals disappear.
Brett Costello is an award winning Photographer who is covering Rio Olympics 2016 for News Corp. Our heart goes out to Brett for his lost but we also want to warn all the Photographers to take care of their gear. All it takes is little distraction and a time equivalent to Usain Bolt’s 100m dash to steal your gear. The case could have also happened with any traveler with some expensive gear. Moral of the story is if you have expensive gear with you then be cautious at all times.
[Edit: The thief has been caught. Photographer Brett Costello noticed the man wearing his jacket when he walked through security to cover the archery event. Not content with stealing the camera gear from a Rio cafe, the thief had put Costello’s photo jacket on and wore it through security. Brett alerted the local police and the daring thief was caught on spot.]Reference and Video Footage: DailyTelegraph
