Robbing Santa Claus gangs hit jewellery shops in Albania, Kosovo

TIRANA (AFP) – The image of Santa Claus is that of a generous giver.

But two jewellery shop owners in both Albania and Kosovo had a different experience as they were visited by gun wielding gangs of Santa Claus in the run-up to Christmas.

In Albania, four armed men dressed as Santa Claus robbed a jewellery shop in a Tirana mall, police said Thursday while another “Santa gang” injured two people during a robbery in neighbouring Kosovo.

The four thieves, armed with automatic weapons, burst into the Tirana shop on Tuesday, threatening the owner at gunpoint as they filled sacks with luxury goods, Interior Ministry spokesman Florion Seriani told AFP.

Seriani said their abandoned car was found two kilometres (1.2 miles) from Tirana’s TEG shopping mall.

Police found two automatic weapons in the trash can near the mall, believed to belong to the thieves.

And in neighbouring Kosovo on Thursday, two people were injured when three armed men dressed as Santa Claus fled a jewellery shop after robbing it in the southern town Prizren, media in Tirana reported.

Kosovo police were not available for comment.