Stomach pains rumble German thief's loot hideaway

BERLIN, Nov 17 (Reuters) A German thief who swallowed a ring he had stolen was betrayed by his own body when he suffered stomach pains during police interrogation.

He was taken to hospital where an x-ray revealed the hidden loot.

Off-duty police officers in the western town of Bergisch Gladbach thought they had seen the 30-year-old stealing something from a shop window, but only found an empty box when they searched him, a police spokesman said today.

''He said he'd grabbed the box and found it empty, but the shopkeeper said there was a ring missing,'' he said. ''Then during questioning he complained of severe stomach pains and was rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis.'' Doctors x-rayed the man and discovered the ring, which they fished out using pincers attached to a stomach tube.

''It seems that the pains were coincidental and had nothing to do with the ring,'' the police spokesman said. He did not know what had caused the pains.

Reuters SY VV2207