Italian police are trying to catch a hapless burglar by taking a print from the finger he accidentally ripped off on barbed wire and when fleeing the scene of the crime.

The finger with wedding ring attached was recovered by police at a recycling plant in Milan, but not before the injured man himself sent a friend to the scene to look for it.

When the helpful friend was queried by a guard, he said: ‘I’m here for a friend, I’m looking for his finger with a ring on it.’ The man quickly disappeared with an accomplice getaway driver before police could arrive on the scene.

Police eventually found what was left of the finger, which had torn off at the first knuckle, among rubbish close to the barbed wire fence of the recycling plant, but the wedding ring was not on it.

A hapless thief left a finger behind when fleeing an alarm over a barbed wire fence. He was trying to rob a recycling plant in Milan. Italian Police found the finger and are hoping to take a print from it in order to identify its owner

The police, reasoning that the thief wants the wedding ring enough to send someone to look for it, hope to use the it as bait to lure him in or tempt him to turn himself in, although it is not clear if they actually have the finger or not.

CCTV of the attempted break-in shows two men climbing over the fence of the recycling plant, and then turning around and fleeing when an alert security guard activates an alarm.

It is at this moment that one of the thieves gets his finger stuck in the barbed wire, and, preferring to lose it than be caught and arrested, manages to completely sever it and make good his escape.

The digit is being kept at a morgue while police work to identify its owner through the fingerprint ID system, according to The Guardian. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk

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