'Cinderella' flipflop leads to arrest of Israeli bag snatche

JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli thief, who lost one of his flipflops while snatching the handbag of a 74-year-old lady, was arrested by police after they identified him through his missing sandal, the Yediot Ahronot daily reported.

The 15-year-old pounced on the woman who was walking down a road near her house in the northern city of Haifa, before running off with her handbag.

As the lady was talking to the police, one of her relatives approached holding a lone flipflop which was lying in the road nearby.

The police officer in charge of the investigation took the sandal to the nearby home of a known juvenile delinquent, who completely denied all knowledge of the incriminating footware, shouting: "It's not mine, it's not mine!"

But the youth was outed by his mother, who immediately identified the flipflop as his.

Police found the matching sandal in the back garden along with the woman's handbag which was hidden under a bush.

The boy was taken for investigation and the flipflops were held as evidence against him.