Inept bank robber drops in on Mounties

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Three off-duty police officers in a Vancouver suburb have found themselves surprise witnesses to a bank robbery by an inept thief who apparently did not realise his own weight.


The Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were waiting in a car at an intersection outside a bank in Burnaby when a man suddenly ran out of the building and into the traffic where he nearly collided with a vehicle.


Realising that something was amiss, the Mounties chased the man on foot as he ran into a nearby marine products supply store where witnesses said he attempted to hide by climbing into a ceiling area.


"Customers and the officers could hear the man struggling, until they finally heard him say, 'Help me'," the RCMP said a statement.


The ceiling tiles then collapsed under the man's weight and he landed in a boat that was on display. He was arrested and the money recovered.