Article content continued

Rising poverty rates among the elderly are being blamed in some countries. That’s the case in South Korea, where 45 per cent of people over 65 live below the poverty line, the highest rate among the 30 developed countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “The government should make an all-out effort to expand the social safety net and provide jobs and dwellings for the elderly,” the Korea Times newspaper editorialized this month, warning that by 2026 more than 20 per cent of the country’s population will be over 65.

The “Opa Bande” (“Grandpa Gang”), three German men in their sixties and seventies who were convicted in 2005 of robbing more than 1 million euros (US$1.09 million) from 12 banks, testified at their trial that they were trying to top up their pension benefits. One defendant, Wilfried Ackermann, said he used his share to buy a farm where he could live because he was afraid of being put in a retirement home.

The perpetrators of the London jewel heist, though, were neither isolated nor impoverished. Prosecutors say the thieves disabled an elevator and climbed down the shaft, then used a high-powered drill to cut into the vault. Once inside, they removed valuables from 72 safe deposit boxes, hauling them away in bags and bins and loading them into a waiting van. Although their faces were obscured by hardhats and other headgear, the tabloids gave each thief a nickname based on distinctive characteristics seen on camera. Two of them, dubbed Tall Man and Old Man, “struggle to move a bin before they drag it outside,” theMirror newspaper reported in its analysis of the security footage. “The Old Man leans on the bin, struggling for breath.”