KIEV, February 8 (RIA Novosti) – Police in western Ukraine detained a man suspected of stealing jewelry and hiding it in bandages on his arm, in a style reminiscent of the cult Soviet comedy, "The Diamond Arm," the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported on its website on Friday.
The 20-year old suspect provoked a scandal at the hotel where he was staying and checked out without asking for a refund.
“The [hotel] owners were surprised to see him with a bandaged arm, which looked healthy and unharmed when he checked in. After the young man’s departure, the owner found that his collection of golden rings with diamonds was missing,” the ministry said.
The suspect was soon detained at a night club, with all the stolen rings on his fingers. He tried to swallow the largest ring.
According to police, the man had already spent six years behind bars for theft and faces from three to six more years in jail if convicted.
The man obviously borrowed the idea of hiding jewels in a cast from the 1968 movie "The Diamond Arm," considered to be one of the best Soviet comedies.
The movie features famous Soviet actor and clown Yury Nikulin as Semyon Gorbunkov, a friendly and naïve man who goes on a cruise and gets his arm bandaged, along with gold and diamonds, by a gang of smugglers. The smugglers mistake him for a real courier, played by another Soviet movie star, Andrei Mironov. As the plot unwinds, the courier and his friend try to retrieve the jewelry and Soviet police uses Gorbunkov as bait to catch the criminals.
