Russian Ninja Thief Foiled by Elderly Italian Farmers

ROME, June 13, 2007 — -- Italy's farmers can finally get a good night's sleep.

A masked thief in northern Italy was arrested Tuesday after terrorizing farmers for weeks by showing up at their doorsteps at nightfall and demanding money.

In repeat scenarios, the thief — dressed in black, his head wrapped like the famed Ninja warriors, and carrying a bow, arrow and a knife strapped to his leg — appeared suddenly at remote farms and made a chilling demand to the trembling farmers: "Give me your money or I'll kill you."

The raids had created a climate of fear among farmers, who were spooked by the robber's strange attire and his sudden appearances at their homes. Police had been hunting for him since mid-May.

The masked marvel — Igor Vaclavic, 31, a former soldier from Russia — had already struck at least five times in the area between Rovigo and Ferrara before a pair of elderly brothers and an accidental gunshot brought his escapades to an end.

Luigi Zampieri, 71, was sitting quietly at home on his farm near Rovigo Monday night when his door was suddenly kicked in and the tall man in black demanded his money. The elderly man screamed in surprise, and his 73-year-old brother living upstairs sprang into action.

Without hesitation, Giovanni Zampieri, 73, grabbed his rifle and went running down the stairs only to trip at the bottom, setting off his rifle. Terrified, the thief scrambled out of the farmhouse, slipping on the broken glass from the door he had knocked in and taking off "using his bicycle as if it was a horse," according to Giovanni. The masked bowman turned to look back briefly as he pedalled away, at which point Giovanni let off another shot in the air, intentional this time.

"It turned out ok in the end," Giovanni told a local journalist, "in situations like this all the strength you once had comes back. He was so big, and all dressed in black. He was very frightening."

The area was soon swarming with Carabinieri, the Italian paramilitary police who quickly found the clumsy thief hiding in an abandoned building just two miles from the home of the plucky old men.