WITH vacuum cleaner in hand — and an extension cord for good measure — a thief made off with more than US$12,800 in jewelry.

　　Police in Kolding, Denmark, about 200 km west of the capital, Copenhagen, said Friday that the thief drilled a small hole in the window of Lykke’s Gold and Silver store Wednesday night, stuck in the tip of the vacuum’s hose, and sucked out several items, including rings, necklaces and earrings.

　　“We discovered it when we came to work in the morning,” Kirsten Lykke Salling, the store’s owner, said. “It was terrible, but at the same time funny because who would have thought of doing it that way?”

　　Police said the burglar used a power socket at a nearby construction site for the electricity. They found the vacuum cleaner abandoned by the shop, but empty.

　　(SD-Agencies)