Naples Thieves Take $1.25 Million Due Waiting Pensioners

NAPLES, Italy — Two young gunmen stole $1.25 million in pension funds from a post office Monday while a long line of elderly people waited outside to collect their money, the last payment before Christmas.

Authorities said the robbers, described as in their 20s and wearing stocking masks, apparently spent the night removing the bars from the window of a storeroom next to the main hall of the larger modern post office on Corso Resina.

They waited until a police-escorted armored car delivered the pension funds in cash and left. The gunmen then burst into the hall, ordered the manager to open the safe and hand over the bag containing 1.5 billion lire, equivalent to about $1.25 million.

A post office official said the pensioners will still get the money due them “sometime before Christmas, but I can’t say when.”